The Dragon's Boy
by 13 Pairs of Wings
Summary: Heroic knight Alfred F. Jones is off to slay the dragon. Too bad the forest creatures are there to make sure he fails! And after days of riding through a haunted forest and being attacked by wolves, Alfred's been stopped by some guy with big eyebrows riding a unicorn. Now he's been imprisoned, and man is he hungry. Eventual USUK, GerIta, and Spamano. On hiatus.
1. Intro: Off to Slay the Beast

Author's Notes: Guten tag! I would like to note before I begin that this is my first story on this site, and so if I uploaded it, or did something wrong please tell me, I'd like to know! ^^ As someone who enjoys author notes, I will be writing short notes at the beginning and end of the story's chapter. Feel free to ignore them if you wish, but I prefer if you read them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, I wouldn't be submitting this here if I did would I?

* * *

**Intro: Off to Slay the Beast**

The wind blew through the yellowing grass that had pushed up on the edges of the road, little used at this time of year. The damp earth was packed down as hooves quickly thudded against the ground, kicking up pebbles and forming a small dust cloud behind the lone rider and horse that travelled at a faster than a walk but slower than a gallop. The horse started to slow under the heavy weight of its well armoured handler and the man's traveling gear.

"Come on Tony, I promise we'll stop when we get to Annabeth." the blonde knight said to his horse. "We'll be there before dark. Can't be far now." he reassured the steed as he ducked in the whipping wind that seemed determined to push the two back. The hooves continued their rhythmic thump against the path as the horse carried its rider along the road.

* * *

Alfred slowed his steed to a halt outside of Annabeth's only inn and pub; The Albino Hawk. Alfred smiled at the sign that moved back and forth in the now dissipating wind. "Now ain't that a name for a pub and inn?" the knight commented as he patted his tired horse's neck before tying Tony up outside to the porch post and heading inside.

The knight opened the door to a ring of a bell that announced his arrival. A tall albino in simple clothes was drying a mug as he walked out from the back and stood behind the long counter that ran from one wall to another with a space at each end to walk between the back and the pub's main room. "Hey! Alfred! Man, been a long time since you came this far out! Missed my awesomeness did ya?" said the man as he smiled and put the mug down and threw the cloth on the back counter behind the counter.

Alfred grinned and sat down in front of the owner of the rightly named Albino Hawk. "Dude, it really has been a while hasn't it?" The bartender moved to grab Alfred a drink before Alfred held up a hand, "Here on business. Sorry, Gilbert."

The other frowned as he put the beer bottle back. Gilbert was technically working and his brother had his eye on him after the last four times. "Aw, come on! You're always 'on business'! When are you gonna stop by like you used to?" he protested as a serious blond head poked out from the back room.

"_Gilbert Beilschmidt_! Finish with these dishes!" he said. The man could be described as tall with blue eyes and slicked back hair. Both the man and Gilbert had accents, but the serious blonde's was more pronounced. "Move, or I am feeding Gilbird to Aster!" The bartender huffed and walked back through the doorway, "_Bruder_! Come on! Can't the awesomeness talk to his friends every once and a while without unawesome results!"

Alfred continued to smile at the two brothers, "Ludwig, why is he the owner of the pub and you aren't?"

Ludwig let out a sigh and started, "I have no idea, bu-"

The door's bell ringed and a voice floated over, "Ludwiggg!~" A shorter red head with a strange curl that bounced with his movements ran straight at the bartender and ran around the counter to hug him.

The blonde's cheeks dusted pink as he pushed the excited other off, "Feliciano, I am working." Ludwig's accent pronounced the 'w' in working as a 'v'.

Feliciano turned to the knight who was still seated on one of the stools, watching his friends' antics. "Ve~ Alfred! You came to visit!"

* * *

As Gilbert finished the dishes and Feliciano started cooking up food for the evening crowd—and after Alfred brought some of his things up to one of the inn's rooms—the knight headed out to walk around town and get a few last minute things for his quest. He stopped by the general store and got a few provisions. He would be heading into a densely forested area, surely finding food wouldn't be hard in a place with so much green.

Alfred walked around town, smiling and waving at the people he passed, people he knew and strangers alike. He soon reached the end of the main street that ran through Annabeth and turned down one of the thinner side roads that lead eventually lead out to the surrounding farms and small country houses.

As he came closer to the edges of the town he stopped in front of a small two story house with smoke coming from the chimney and a goat tied up in the small front yard. Alfred grinned at the crooked hand painted sign next to the gate. The sign read "Antonio's Tomato Garden".

Alfred opened the gate and glanced over at the chickens pecking next to an open window to the left of the old cobbled walk way that lead to the front door.

"You bastard! I told you not to let the chickens out!" yelled someone from on the other side of the door.

"But Romano, Señor Churro looked lonely!" a man reply from closer to the window. Despite the obvious anger in the first man's voice, the second seemed calm and rather cheery.

"He's a goat dammit!"

"A lonely goat~"

"AND HE'S GONNA STAY THAT WAY!"

Alfred knocked on the door before the argument escalated and located the goat in question. Señor Churro was still continuing to eat at the patchy grass that covered the front lawn. One of the chickens was pecking around in a flower pot too.

When a couple of seconds had gone by a smiling man opened the door half way, peeking his head out, "_Hola!_" He had curly dark brown hair, bright green eyes, and wore a simple farmer's shirt and trousers. He seemed to be holding something—or some_one_—back on the other side of the doorway.

"_Bastardo!_ Listen to me when I'm talking to you!"

Alfred being ever one to not sense when he should keep his trap shut and come back later said, "Hey dudes! My friend Feliciano told me this place had good food!"

The man that had been holding open the door couldn't stop it as a shorter auburn haired and amber eyed teen finally got past him and opened the door wider so he could get a good look at the intruder, "You know my _fratello_?"

Alfred noticed the angry guy had a curl like Feli's, only his was on the other side of his head. "Who? Feliciano? Yea, he's the Albino Hawk's cook." This meant that this guy was Lovino Vargas. Alfred hadn't meet many people in Annabeth besides the Albino Hawk owners and the cook, so this was his first time meeting Feliciano's loud mouth brother.

The man with curly hair ran past Alfred and out to the yard, successfully cutting off the conversation, "Señor Churro! Come back! _Regresar_!"

Alfred turned as Feliciano's brother ran past him, cursing all the way. "Antonio! Get back here you fucking bastard!" Alfred laughed loudly as Antonio tried to bring the runaway goat home.

"Lovino, come help me!~ " Antonio pleaded while he continued in his attempts to drag Señor Churro back to Antonio's Tomato Garden.

* * *

After Lovino and Antonio managed to get their goat tied up again and Lovino calmed down enough to actually carry on a conversation without yelling; the three went out back to the largest garden Alfred had ever seen.

"Gilbert wasn't joking when he said you guys really like the dirt…" The loud blonde mentioned as he looked out at the countless rows and rows of vegetables and plants. Maybe half of the rows were just tomatoes too.

The angry teen and the older man picked some herbs that Alfred would need in case if he got hurt or ill. They told Alfred which plant was which and what they did, but the knight wasn't paying any attention, so after asking Antonio what they were for the _fifth_ time, Lovino wrote down the information down and tucked the folded papers under the piece of twine that held each bundle together.

Antonio invited Alfred to stay for dinner, but it quickly got shot down when Lovino protested and Alfred said he already promised Feli that he'd eat with them.

"_Adios!_" Antonio called out the door as he waved to Alfred, who was shutting the gate and heading down the road. "_Hasta luego_!"

Alfred soon returned to the Albino Hawk with herbs and dried fruit. He threw the two bags on a table in his room before heading back down to the pub on the main story. Upon sitting down on one of the stools once more he glanced out the window at the darkening sky.

"Sure you're going to try and stay sober?" Gilbert asked with a smirk.

"Well, I guess just one drink for old times won't hurt."

* * *

The sun rose and Alfred groaned as the warm rays reached him through the window. He threw the blankets over his head, but the sunlight still shown through the fabric. "Why can't the light just shut up?" He moaned as he turned over and rolled off the bed, hitting the ground with a _thunk_.

A knocking noise came from the direction of the door and Alfred didn't bother to move from his place on the wood floor in a tangle of sheets.

"Ve~ Alfred, are you going to be out for breakfast?" came a voice that Alfred assumed was Feliciano. Apparently he'd stayed the night because Alfred could have sworn that he didn't usually cook breakfast for the inn. Then again he had a raging headache and it felt like the world was plotting its revenge for those shots and pints of beer last night.

Alfred's voice was muffled by the wood floor and the sheets when he next spoke, "Only if I can have bacon and eggs and _coffee_. Lots and lots of coffee, Feli." He still hadn't moved an inch toward getting up however.

Feliciano giggled from the other side of the door, "Funny, that's almost exactly what Gilbert, Ludwig, Antonio, and the tailor Francis said when I asked them what they wanted!" He skipped down the hall to the stairs that lead down into the kitchen. The cook waved a wooden spoon around as he went.

Eventually Alfred could smell the aroma of bacon and sausages from the kitchen below, causing him to quickly throw on some clothes and trudge downstairs.

When he got there several other people had beaten him to Feliciano's cooking. Gilbert, Ludwig, Lovino, Antonio, and a man with wavy shoulder length blond hair sat at a round table in the corner. There were two empty seats left—one between the serious German and Lovino, and one between Antonio and the stranger. Feliciano came out of the kitchen with a plate of bacon and set it down among the other dishes already on the table. Alfred walked over and sat down next to Antonio while Feli sat next to his brother and Ludwig. He was very happy to see his mug already filled with steaming black coffee.

The man with the wavy hair turned to look at Alfred with a grin, "_Bonjour._" He had stubble along his chin and blue eyes. He also only had on a long, slightly too big white shirt.

Gilbert paused in shoving food down his throat to say, "Alfred, this is my awesome friend Francis. Keep a look out fo-" he was interrupted as Alfred's eyes widened a bit and he grabbed Francis's hand in an iron grip, putting it back in the man's own lap. Gilbert continued without a moment's pause, "Francis has wondering hands."

Francis just smiled and Alfred edged his chair away from the barely dressed man with a nervous laugh before continuing to eat a large portion of the food set out on the table. "Ohononon~" Smirked the French man," Just let me know if you need me to-" he paused, looking the knight up and down as he shovelled more food than thought to be humanly possible into his mouth. "_Take some measurements_..." He finished suggestively as he took out a length of yellow measuring tape from somewhere within the billowing folds of his shirt. He and draped it around his neck, then reached over as if to drape it over Alfred's, when a yellow projectile hit Francis's face.

A splatter of eggs slowly slid down the perverts face, having come from Gilbert's direction. "Like I said..." the agitated albino continued, fork still in mid-air. He didn't need to finish his sentence, but that didn't stop him from mumbling something about how un-awesome Francis was acting. Usually he didn't mind his friends hitting on the inn's guests, but Alfred was a good friend to most of the people at the table, and be damned if he didn't come back around for drinks because of Francis.

Francis at that point had flaunted out of the room crying something about "_mon dieu_! My beautiful face!" Alfred shivered. The creep was already starting to get on his nervous, but it was just one more reason to get on with his quest as soon as possible. As much as he liked visiting the citizens of Annabeth, there were some things that he could go without.

"Ve~ Ludwig, do you like the wurst I made?" Feliciano asked happily, ignorant to the occurrences of the last few minutes. He seemed to be the least effected by the drinking last night. Alfred looked back at his other visits to Annabeth and realized he'd never seen Feliciano truly have a hangover. Was he immune or something? That would be a pretty awesome superpower, immune to hangovers.

Alfred was jerked out if his thoughts when Lovino started snapping at Antonio after he commented on something about the rude teen making a good blanket. "I was drunk you _bastardo_!"

The two continued a one sided argument until Feliciano cut in, "Ve~ Alfred, you said something about a quest last night?" he asked Alfred over the din of Antonio and Lovi.

"_Mi lindo tomato pequeño_-"

"QUIT FUCKIN' CALLING ME THAT!"

"You know you like it~"

"Do not!"

"I have to object, _mi tomate._"

"OVERRULED! Now shut up and eat your damn breakfast!"

Alfred cleared his throat, "Yea, I have a really important quest from the High King himself! One only a hero could complete!"

Ludwig was calmly eating his breakfast despite the havoc occurring that seemed to happen whenever a large number of the citizens of Annabeth came together for any period of time. He asked their guest, "What is this 'quest'?"

Antonio paused in his continued argument with a now tomato red Lovi and turned to the knight beside him to listen to Alfred. Gilbert—despite still cramming an obscene amount of food down into his mouth—also looked up in anticipation of the answer. Francis came back from the kitchen and sat down as well.

Alfred's eyes travelled around the table slowly and he leaned in for dramatic effect, "I've gotta go slay a dragon." He sounded almost proud of the dangerous task.

This caused a loud outbreak from the others around the table. Feli gasped and looked over to his brother to proclaim, "B-but dragons are scary!" Lovino appeared equally terrified. Francis glanced out of the corner of his eyes at Alfred, "ohon~ _Vraiment_?" He asked before taking a bite of a croissant. From Alfred's left Antonio had a look of surprise, "Oh, seriously?"

"Yea, ya know the one that's been rumoured to be plaguing the south-eastern towns?" Alfred smiled and leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head, "Yep, I'm gonna go out and bring back its head! I'll be a hero!" He puffed out his chest, subconsciously trying to look manlier.

Even Gilbert had stopped eating at this point to stare at the knight. His fork missed the food on his plate and hit the edge with a loud _clank_. "_Was_?! That's _awesome_!" he said after a pause.

Ludwig seemed surprise by now, and Feli's golden eyes were wide as he clung to his brother—who pushed him off—before Feliciano moved to wrap his arms around Ludwig instead.

"_Mon ami_, such a daunting task!"

"What if the dragon came here?! Ve~ Luddy what would we do! _Che cosa abbiamo intenzione di fare?"_

"We'd kill the damn thing! Feli, quit hanging off that potato bastard! _Ora_!"

"_Pero_, it would eat Señor Churro…"

Alfred talked over everyone else's voices. "Dudes! Calm down! I'll be a hero and kill it before it has a chance to get anywhere near Annabeth!" he promised to his friends. Yep, Alfred was going to be the heroic knight in shining armour of the fairy tales. Saving damsels from wicked scary dragons! He could do this. He knew he could. He was a knight, a hero he could do this. Slay a dragon? _Pfft._ No problem.

"Alfred," Ludwig seemed to sigh more than say the name, "This isn't just some errand that the king is having you carry out. You're not going after some petty criminal that stole from the royal courts."

"_Ja ja_! Dragons are a pretty awesome force to be messing around with!" Gilbert interjected. Ludwig tensed a little and closed his eyes for a second, taking in his brother's idiocy before continuing, "What I'm _trying_ to tell you is, be careful. _Gute?_"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Alfred said, waving a hand at them and rolling his eyes, "Stop worrying. A trained knight like me will have no problem."

* * *

While the Vargas brothers—plus Antonio—cleaned up breakfast, and Feli made food for the day's guests at the inn and pub, Alfred started packing up for the long journey ahead. He was stuffing a shirt in amongst his pack of clothes. Ludwig knocked on the opened door, standing in the doorway with Gilbert behind him.

"Alfred." Ludwig said and the blue eyed blonde looked up with a smile, "Oh, hey guys."

Ludwig and Gilbert walked into the room, Gilbert leaning against the unused desk, and Ludwig walking toward the knight with a cloth wrapping something in his hand. Alfred looked down at the small bundle, "What's that?" he asked the brothers.

Ludwig handed the cloth to Alfred, "It's a sort of… wishing you well present."

Gilbert spoke up—not being able to hold his tongue for long, "it's a most awesome me- Ow!" He rubbed the spot where Ludwig had smacked him upside the head. "_Dummkopf_, let him see for himself."

Alfred hurriedly uncovered the object. He stared at the present in his palms before picking up the strings attached to it and holding it up for the Albino Hawk's owners to see. The gift was a medallion hanging on three simple pieces of string (three to insure that it would not easily fall off). It was silver in colour and metal, with the imprint of a hawk holding a whip its beak and a sword between its talons. There was a ring of olive leaves surrounding the hawk. The words along the edge were in two different languages, but Alfred understood neither. Ludwig spoke up, "The top is in Gilbert and my home language. It says _'Wir für unsere Überzeugungen zu kämpfen' _translated to 'We fight for our beliefs'. Feli told me that the second part is in his language. I don't remember what it is though."

"Probably something _awesome_! Kesesesesesesese~" Gilbert said, ruining the seriousness of the moment. Alfred laughed good-naturedly and Ludwig hit his brother's shoulder.

After Alfred tied the metal around his neck and let it fall under his shirt he put on a thick, brown jacket with a fuzzy collar. He slung his main bag over his shoulder while Ludwig grabbed the other one and Gilbert travelled ahead of them, talking about something that neither of the other two was honestly listening to.

Feli met the three at the bottom of the stairs. He smiled at Ludwig before telling Alfred he would meet them outside with some provisions he'd prepared. Ludwig watched the cook leave before following Alfred out to his horse, who was tied to the porch post. Tony was laden down with more packs this time. The saddle bags were full, and it took Ludwig a second to find room for Alfred's final bags before he secured the two to the horse. "Are you sure that you won't be condemning your horse with so much luggage?"

Alfred laughed at the comment and patted his horse's neck, "Nah! Tony'll be fine! Besides, I gotta be prepared!"

Ludwig nodded before giving Alfred a salute, "_Auf Wiedersehen_ Alfred. Come back soon." He turned and went back into the pub and inn.

Alfred called after him, "See ya Ludwig!" He turned back to Tony and was just about to swing a leg over and get up in the saddle before Feliciano came running out of the doorway.

"Ve!~ Alfred! Wait!" he called to get the knight to turn around and look at him, "You can't leave without provisions!" The red-brown haired teen held out a bag that smelled of pasta and tomatoes. "Here~"

Al smiled at the cook and took the bag before ruffling the Vargas boy's hair. "Thanks Feli, I'm gonna need these." He tied the bag to the saddle and was about to swing into the saddle before he remembered something, "Hey Feliciano?"

"_Sì_?"

The blonde smiled and pulled out the medallion that he had been given. "Do you know what this says," He pointed a finger to the words across the bottom, "and what it means?"

Feliciano looked at the words quietly for a moment before smiling up at his friend and exclaiming, "It's part of the town's motto!~ It reads '_e onorare la pace'_. In Common that means 'and honour the peace'!" Alfred had already forgotten what the first part of Annabeth's motto was, and it must have been obvious because Feli added, "The entire motto is 'We fight for our beliefs, and honour the peace'. Ve~ it's the Annabeth town motto!"

"Sounds like a pretty good motto to me." Alfred replied. He looked up at the skies above. There were a few puffy white clouds, but otherwise the skies were an endless blue. He smiled at Feliciano, "See ya soon Feli." He said before digging his feet into Tony's side to tell the horse to start moving on their journey once more.

Feliciano sniffed, "Ve~ Come back and tell us how you killed the dragon one day Alfred!" He waved his hand high above his head as Tony and his rider trotted down the main road. "_Addio_!"

Soon the fair haired knight couldn't even see the grey-brown roofs of Annabeth. His friends were far away, and he was set out on a quest that made for legends and fairy tale stories.

* * *

Author's Notes: I'm very excited for this to be my first ever fanfic, and my first story on this site. Please tell me if there are any spelling errors, or the translations were incorrect. I only have a limited knowledge of German and Spanish, as well as google translate to help me with the translations. ^^" I know every author asks, but please do review! I'm new to the writing world and the only way for me to get better is if I get feedback from my readers!

Translation Notes: (there are a lot in the intro, but don't worry, in later chapters there won't be so many!)

Fratello: Brother (Italian)

Regresar: Come back (Spanish)

Mi lindo tomato pequeño: My cute little tomato (Spanish)

Vraiment: Really (French)

Was: What (German)

Che cosa abbiamo intenzione di fare: What are we going to do (Italian)

Ora: Now (Italian)

Pero: But (Spanish)

Auf Wiedersehen: Goodbye (German)

And lastly I would like to thank my good friend, who I call Nihon or Affe. She kindly let me give here my drafts and eagerly awaited updates. Without her support and comments I would have never even finished the introduction, let alone be as far as I am! To my knowledge she doesn't have an account here on fanfiction, but she does have an account on deviantart, go check her out! Her username would be: ABlueLotusDesigns

Danke Nihon!


	2. Chapter 1: A Forest Unlike Any Other

**A/N:** I got reviews on the Intro! This makes me so happy, you have no idea. ^^ Danke to everyone who followed, favourited, or reviewed! Without further ado, here is the first chapter.

* * *

Wir für unsere Überzeugungen zu kämpfen, e onorare la pace

We fight for our beliefs, and honour the peace

* * *

**Chapter 1: A Forest unlike Any Other**

It was the third day into Alfred's long journey. A road led from Annabeth to the south-eastern town of Cladeian (Clad-di-an) and avoided the major dangers. These included a large, very dark, very wild forest. The Mysticum Silva was the type of forest that men whispered tales about huddled around a table in a dimly lit pub during a midnight thunderstorm on a full moon. And Alfred, being the manly knight he was, thought it was a great idea to "take a short cut" and just go straight through the forest to the town on the other side. Little did heknow, the whole forest had to be crawling with _fucking ghosts_.

The wind blew through the trees, creating a ruffle of the leaves as the smell of an approaching thunderstorm followed soon after the flittering leaves. Of all times, there had to be a storm when Alfred was already on edge. A couple of robbers? Easy. A man eating dragon? No problem. Ghosts and phantoms? Alfred had only one tactic, _run like hell away._

Tony on the other hand, was acting like he was walking through a field of daisies on a cloudless day. There was no way a knight of the King's was going to be out courage by his own damn horse.

And that is why the jumpy blond and his steed were slowly making their way through the dense undergrowth of the haunted Mysticum Silva. Luckily Tony seemed to know his way through the seemingly never-ending-mad-tangle of thistles, trees, and other assortments of green forest vegetation. However, there was only so long a horse could trudge through the undergrowth with the weight of a knight, his armour (which, Alfred wasn't wearing because it was indeed very heavy), his weapons, his cloths, and provisions.

Alfred quickly gathered firewood and made his tent before the sun quit lighting the forest grounds. This was his first night in the forest, and even though the evening was early he was already very scared and extremely jumpy.

A tree creaked from the wind.

"Tony…did you here that?" Alfred asked the horse, who continued to pull at the long grass that poked through the littered leaves here and there.

Alfred continued to work on his camp. He was now pulling out the necessities for dinner and getting ready. This included a pot, the provisions from Feliciano, a fork and spoon, and large jug of water.

There was a rustle in the bushes and a twig cracked. The scared blonde's head whipped up and he spent at least three minutes looking into the darkening bushes and trees beyond the reach of the fire's light. There was something out there he just _knew_. Blue eyes flitted over in the direction of the horse. Even Tony was acting a bit skittish at this point. Al remembered hearing somewhere that animals could sense ghosts. There was something out there. And it was scaring the shit out of Alfred.

Dinner was eaten with haste, and as the rain pattered on trees and tent canvas, a knight in the middle of the creepiest forest was kept up until the rain stopped and the sun rose the next morning. Wolves were howling, and an owl hooted despite the bad weather. The creatures of the forest had taken note of this stranger's entrance. They weren't happy.

They weren't happy at all.

* * *

After finally getting to sleep when the rain had stopped and the sun was warming the dripping leaves Alfred F. Jones decided he deserved to sleep in a little. Unfortunately, nature had other plans.

A clank sounded out, dragging Alfred from a nice dream of meat patties and sweet cake. He blinked sleep blurred eyes and curled up in his blanket, content to ignore what ever had made the noise and drift back to sleep.

Was that a growl? Al frowned. Tony didn't growl…. He was a horse not a dog. Maybe it was Al's imagination. He tried to get back to sleep for the second time when a low snarl and the panicking whinny of a horse reached his ears.

That definitely meant trouble. Tony was a well behaved horse. He only made that noise when either there was a viper—which in a forest with a thick canopy after a thunderstorm was a bit of a stretch—or if there was a wolf.

_A wolf_.

Alfred bolted away and grabbed for his wire framed glasses and sword. His hand flicked into his pocket and retrieved a knife as he slowly crept out of the tent. _Shit._

Not only was there _a_ wolf, but there were two. One was thin with a thick, almost silver fur while the other was large and muscled with shorter yellow-tan fur. The silver one had Tony backed up against a tree and some brambles whereas the tan wolf was going through his packs. The silver's head swivelled around to glare at the interruption. It growled, showing off long knife-like teeth and snapped at the other, who looked up with almost a scared air. Alfred slowly unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the tan wolf. At the same time he held the knife ready to throw at the farther away silver wolf.

The larger of the two wined and swung its head over to regard the other. The silver one must be in charge. Alfred didn't doubt that despite the size difference if there was a fight the silver wolf would easily the winner.

The tan wolf started to growl and advance. This snapped Al out of his thoughts about the wolves and back to the present situation. If he plunged the sword into the tan one then threw the knife at the skinny silver—assuming he'd hit his target and not his horse—he might be able to make it before either himself or Tony was mauled by one of the probably very hungry wolves.

The four—wolves, horse, and human—stood watching each other quietly for what felt comparable to eternity before several things happened in only a few seconds. An owl hooted loudly (It was almost noon, and an owl was awake?) and it was like a signal. The two wolves growled and snapped a warning before disappearing into the forest alike to smoke on the breeze. The only traces of their visit were the shuffled leaves, the still frightened look on Tony, and the fact that Alfred's packs were shifted around a bit.

After Alfred got over the shock of having two wolves invade his camp and disappear just as quickly as they had arrived he started the process of making breakfast. Soon, it was almost similar to the wolves having never been there in the first place. Maybe they hadn't. Maybe it had just been some strange dream…

Both rider and horse soon ate their breakfast; Tony drank from a puddle in the brown leaves that were strewn across the forest ground while the blonde had some of the sausage that he suspected Ludwig had put into the provisions bag so that he wasn't living on meals of pasta and tomato sauce. It was getting late in the day, and though they weren't to be expected to get far, Alfred wanted to move before the wolves came back. He packed up camp as the sun descended in the sky and after tying everything on the saddle, he settled himself into his set atop Tony and they headed out; back on their way out of Mysticum Silva and to Cladeian.

It didn't take long before they came across a small clearing that would make for a good camp; but was far enough away from the last. Not that the wolves couldn't just follow after them, but Alfred still felt saver moving out from the previous camp.

The woods still gave him the creeps. It felt like someone was always watching them, charting their progress through the trees.

* * *

A couple days later the two were still twitchy, and Alfred still constantly felt the hair-raising feeling that they were being watched. Alfred was starting to run low on previsions. He'd planned on getting some food from hunting or gathering on the way, and there was only so much pasta, dried fruits and vegetables, and wrust a person could take. Finally on his fourth morning in the forest the traveller couldn't take it anymore.

"Tony, I'm going hunting," called the swordsman to the brown horse tied to a nearby tree. He slung a bow over one shoulder and grabbed a quiver with only a few arrows in it. Alfred also brought his two knives, his sword, and a net. Usually the blonde wouldn't use something like a net, but he wanted to be prepared if he came across a pond or river with fish swimming in it.

Alfred was two hours into the forest and on the trail of two deer. He glanced back at what he'd thought was a twig snapping, but the forest was just as deserted as it had been the last seven times he'd checked behind him.

"Come on," he whispered to himself, "ghosts can't walk around in the daytime. It's just a fox or something. Nothing to be scared o-"

A white tail flashed up ahead and Alfred shut his mouth and got back to the task at hand. Two deer. One hunter. This shouldn't be such a challenge, not for such a skilled knight comparable to himself. Alfred readied his bow with confidence and slowly moved forward after his targets. He should get one of them fairly easily. The other would run, but one deer was enough for a single traveller, and there was only so much that Tony could carry.

The hunter slowly advanced on his quarry for several long quiet minutes before getting a clear shot at the smaller young doe. The older buck seemed to suspect something was up, but he hadn't given the cue to bolt yet. The fact that there were only two, and a female and male at that, seemed strange to Alfred, but he didn't question his dinner's habits. Yum_, _deer steaks.

Alfred raised the bow and arranged himself into the proper stance that his mentor had instructed him way back when he'd been an apprentice and errands boy. His mentor had always been going off on how 'Alfred never listened to a word he said', but he'd gotten it all wrong! Alfred had only paid attention to the _weapons_ lessons; more specifically sword lessons.

Needless to say, Alfred was a horrible shot despite what he believed himself to be (simply very unlucky archer).

With his fingers mentally crossed and the hopes for some deer for dinner the hidden archer released the arrow from his hold. The bow twanged and the deer were immediately alert, but with no time to dodge the deadly shot. The arrow whizzed through the still forest air to hit its target. Well, it would have. Had that pesky tree branch not gotten in the way Alfred would be lugging a doe over his shoulder back to camp to be fried over that evening's fire. Stupid plant.

Unfortunately for Alfred everything went downhill _real _fast after that.

Instead of doing what any normal, sensible deer would do and bolt, the doe pranced out of shooting range while the other's head swivelled to zero in on Alfred. Now usually Alfred would have done the smart thing and shot the deer, climbed a tree, _something_, but one look from that buck and all he could do was drop the bow and stare dumbly. It was like the forest animal was out for murder.

"Oh, _fuck_."

Alfred was snapped out of his stupidity and scrambled back in the foliage, grabbing for his sword as the buck charged at him, head down, antler's sharp. The deer was obviously young; his antlers weren't the beautiful branches of a grown male's. However those six points were still aimed at Alfred's chest, and they very much had the ability to kill.

As the knight tripped backwards and sat down hard on the leave strewn forest floor the buck was getting closer and closer. Al waved his sword in a defensive sweep that would at least slow the antlers' travel to maul him. Alfred knew he was probably not going to survive this so he braced himself for impact, and hoped it'd be a quick death and that Tony wouldn't get eaten by those wolves from a few days back.

The sound of a bow's string being released and a sudden jerk threw Alfred's sword arm back behind him, the sword being yanked from his grip. The buck stopped just short, inches from his still breathing target, who could only stare as the deer backed off slowly and raised its head up to stare behind Alfred.

With breathes coming in short sputters and sweat sliding down his forehead Alfred's eyes travelled across the leaves to his sword arm. Eyes were widened in shock at the sight.

An arrow had buried the tip of its head into the groove between the cross guard and the grip. The sword itself was laying half under a green bush a couple of feet from Alfred's open palm.

The shuffling and snort of a horse brought shocked eyes up to the archer and Alfred's mouth about dropped to the ground.

Bushy eyebrows furrowed in a scowl above green eyes and below a mop of tangled blonde hair. In one hand he held a bow and in the other an arrow, ready to be notched and fired. The man sat atop his steed with a straight back and with a lordly grace. The mount in question was what shocked Al so much that he thought maybe he'd gone insane somewhere along the line.

Alfred F. Jones, knight of the King, was looking at a unicorn. The great beast had a pure white coat with almost black hooves and green eyes. Its white horn poke out from a long well groomed blonde mane that fell down in waves. In short comparing it to Tony would correspond to comparing a mangy street mutt to the queen's pampered purebreds; Tony being the mangy mutt that is.

"Yes yes, I'm riding a unicorn. Get up!" The man had an accent that made Alfred thing of the nobles from back home. Still shocked, he made no move to get up.

This only irritated the strange man further and deepened his scowl, "Bloody wanker _get up_!" He looked back behind the caught hunter to the two deer that stood only a little ways off. "He sure is a dumb one isn't he Vash? First he goes after your sister, and then sitting here wasting my time." He said it as if he expected for the animal to repl-

"They must be getting stupider every year."

Alfred's head jerked to gawk behind him at the buck. Did it just_ talk_?

Why yes, it had, and it wasn't done, "You should shoot him now and save us the trouble. He can't be worth it."

Hey! Alfred was a very heroic knight! They couldn't just outright kill him!

"Vash, no matter how correct you are, you know I don't kill." The man replied without batting an eyelash like talking deer and unicorns were the most natural thing in the world. It didn't even enter the still shocked blonde's brain that maybe, to this person, it was indeed an everyday occurrence.

The next thing that was said got Alfred's almost full attention though. "However, we can't let him wonder back to whatever cursed village he's come from." Eyebrows' gaze spun back to the disturbance at his mount's hooves. "Vash, Lili, go find Katyusha and Natalia. Tell them to pick up the camp he left behind. They can have the horse; those two wolves have been bothering me about lack of food for a while now."

Alfred gulped and finally piped up, "Hey! You can't just feed Tony to those creatures!"

Eyebrows scowled once again and switched his bow and arrow over to his left hand, "I really should kill you," he sighed and raised his right hand, palm up in front of himself, "but I'll have to settle with giving you a most horrible headache instead."

The last thing Alfred remembered was the green light that seemed to hover above the man's hand and the echo of a quite young girl's voice, "As you wish Dragon's Boy."

Then everything went black.

* * *

**A/N:** this one is a bit short compared to the Intro, but I've come to realize that the Intro is pretty long, so the chapters will probably be a bit shorter ^^" There aren't any translations though (unless if I missed something… which is very possible.)

I'm going to start trying to do updates on Wednesdays or Thursdays. I had a bit of a cold today, but it seems to have passed, so I finished my edits in time. I had to go home from school early however. You probably don't really care though. Random rambling at the end of a chapter…


	3. Chapter 2: Distrusting Captures

**A/N:** Only two chapters in and I've already gone a day past my deadline (Thursday). Sorry guys!

* * *

_Wir für unsere Überzeugungen zu kämpfen, e onorare la pace_

_We fight for our beliefs, and honour the peace_

* * *

**Chapter 2: Distrusting Captures and a Thunderstorm**

The first thing that Alfred noticed was that he had the biggest headache, worse than a hangover at its best. He didn't dare open his eyes; least the migraine let loose a new wave of pain. Alfred was smart enough to know by now that light in any form would just make things worse. He tried going back to sleep, but the headache wouldn't let him. It was then that something got through the pain in his skull. Not only was he dealing with the mother of all migraines, but his hands and feet were tied so tight that the rope was rubbing his ankles and wrists red; they'd probably be raw before long. No wonder he couldn't sleep.

This was bad. This was all very _very_ bad. However, it would be better dealt with when the throbbing went away, and thus brought on a long period of drifting into light slumber, before being torn out of it by some new wave of pain or another. In that way Alfred very soon lost track of the day and time. He had no idea if it had been two days or three months since he'd first been captured by that crazy guy on a unicorn. It had to be him who was keeping him tied; that was the only explanation.

* * *

It was who knew how long later, when Alfred suddenly woke up free of the usual headache, though the ropes still bound his feet and hands. Sure the migraine had dulled over time, but this was definitely new. He could think clearly again, and he opened his eyes more than slits to look in the room around him; or, in this case, the cave around him.

Said cave wasn't very large and dimly lit (the location of the light source was a mystery; it seemed to come from nowhere, but everywhere all at once). There was a passage that led out of the opposite wall, but other than that there was no way of escape. After eyeing around the otherwise unremarkable room, Alfred concluded that this was some sort of cell and he was being held captive for some reason. This, of course, meant that there was no way that they'd just leave him with an exit that wasn't guarded. The prisoner's stomach growled and his throat was patched. Alfred was tied up and he had finally deduced that the source of light came from down the passageway. The optimistic part of him piped up to reminded him that at least he wasn't dead, or mortally wounded.

Well, _at least_. He was really hungry though.

It was then that the captive noticed that there was a tray set off to his right with three pastries and some sort of drink that had long ago gone cold. After inching over and awkwardly holding the cup in his bound hands, Alfred realised it was some sort of tea.

"Yuck," he commented before picking up a pastry—which turned out to be a scone edging on a dark brown hue. It didn't taste good, but he was able to get over it. Al was hungry, and he'd likely start eating his own shoe soon if he didn't find _something_ to eat.

After eating all three scones and licking up the little crumbs that had fallen, Alfred eyed the tea. To drink, or not to drink? Hmm-

"It's not poisoned," remarked a quiet voice, making the boy jump, and his head swivel around.

"Who said that?" asked the blonde. He looked around the room several times, but no one was there.

The voice seemed to almost sigh before remarking, "Me." Alfred frowned and the voice elaborated, "Over here, behind you." After turning the prisoner shrieked and backed up until he felt the cold stone wall plastered against his shoulder blades.

The boy in front of him winced at the response. "I won't hurt you…" he promised in his quiet and gentle voice. Said boy was pale and the dark stones behind him showed through his translucent body. He had shoulder length hair, and one stubborn piece stuck out from the rest, a little loop half way down from it hung next to his face, which was peeking out from behind the top of a stuffed white bear. "My name is Matthew Williams," Matthew introduced himself in his quiet voice.

Alfred settled for just staring at the ghost with big eyes instead of shrieking again, because to be truthful the noise he had made resembled a little school girl; very un-heroic. While Matthew floated above the ground a bit and tried to hide from the staring behind the white bear, someone had walked into the little room unnoticed.

The messy haired man chuckle and then, "He's just a ghost, completely harmless," was said from the person that had been riding a unicorn last time the confused knight sitting in the room had seen him. He raised a bushy eyebrow at Alfred as he picked up the tray that the cup of tea sat on. "You didn't drink your tea."

"Of course I didn't. Who drinks _tea_?" the knight said, looking at the drink as if it was made with nightshade as the main ingredient.

The man appeared as if he was about to kill, maim, or possible torture. "I DO, YOU BLOODY GIT!" he huffed, gripping the tray with white knuckles.

Alfred smiled and held his hands up in an 'I surrender'. It was a little bit difficult with his hands tied though. "Hey no need to get pissy," he remarked while barely holding in chuckles and giggles. This weird guy sure looked funny when he got mad. Like an angry fuzzy caterpillar. Al dubbed him 'the Caterpillar'. He had to call him _something _after all. Might as well be something that just begged to be laughed at.

Matthew spoke up before Alfred's angry captor could punch him in the face, "Please, stop it both of you," his voice never rose much above a whisper; it was a miracle that they could hear him, really, "Arthur, you came here for a reason I assume."

"Ah, yes," Alfred noted that he had a most bizarre accent (he remembered thinking the same thing upon their first meeting as well), "Sir…Knight—"

"Wait how do you know I'm a knight?"

The 'Caterpillar' snorted, "Because only knights lug around such stupid armour like that."

Alfred begged to object that the armour wasn't 'stupid', it was what a hero wore. Arthur didn't give him a chance to say anything however before he continued, "As I was saying, what business do you have in this forest?"

"That's easy. I'm out to slay the dragon that's been plaguing the south-eastern towns. I'm going to be a hero." The knight beamed a big toothy smile at his captor and the forgotten ghost.

Both of the others frowned considerably. They exchanged a worried glance before turning to face their prisoner once more. "That," there was a paused, "is a problem." remarked the Caterpillar—who Alfred had deduced was Arthur, but 'the Caterpillar' sound much better to him, so why not keep the name?

Al frowned in return, only his was in confusion, "What? Why would killing a dragon be a problem? I'm gonna help people and become a hero!"

"First off, it's 'going to' you prat," started Arthur, "Second, how do you know this dragon is supposedly 'bad'? Why can't a dragon be good for once, hmm?" He sounded almost defensive, which was comical; a human defending a dragon? Alfred must have heard him wrong.

"Well, _sir,_ all dragons are bad. It's their nature. They plunder villages, steal sheep, and eat people. I don't know about you, but I think that qualifies as 'bad'." Alfred said it slowly, as if to get through to someone slow and stupid.

Matthew cut in again before Arthur could strangle the knight, "Well maybe you're wrong. Ever thought that dragons had families too, eh?"

It seemed that the ghost had said too much for his human companion's liking, however. "Matthew, that's enough," he snapped, "I'm going to go put this tray away and warm up the tea again. There's no point in wasting good black tea." And with that Arthur left the room in silence.

"Has he got something up his ass?" Alfred asked with a quick smirk.

"He's just a bit on edge…" said Matthew apologetically.

* * *

"Ve~ it sure looks like a big angry storm is brewing, huh?" commented a bright young cook, standing next to a group of his friends outside of the Albino Hawk in Annabeth. He put a hand over his brow and beheld the cloudy grey sky above him. He was right, a huge storm was about to hit town.

"I sure hope that knight of ours stays safe out there, it would be pretty un-awesome if he died before we got to hear his awesome story..." mentioned the albino owner of the Albino Hawk, before getting cut off by a punch in the arm courtesy of younger his brother.

"_Bruder_," he began scolding sternly.

At this point Feliciano had wandered over towards his brother, who was talking with Antonio about how he hoped a damn storm wouldn't ruin his garden.

"Don't worry Lovi~ I have the perfect thing to calm you down!" at this, the man smiled at the two as he began to chant, "Fuso-so-soso~" over and over soothingly as he spread his arms towards the Vargas brothers as if throwing something at them, but in a slower, more dramatic motion.

Feliciano seemed almost mesmerized and calm for the first time said since the storm had rolled in overhead, but Lovino on the other hand wanted to punch Antonio's face. He opened his mouth to tell him to shut up and quit being such an idiot when a loud crack of thunder and a peel of lightning tore the darkening skies. At once they all ceased conversation and considered the clouds that were almost growling above them. It began to pelt down rain almost immediately.

Francis cried out as the first icy drops landed on him, "_Mon dieu_! We'll be soaked to the bone if we stay out here!"

"Everybody inside!" barked Ludwig over the thunder. The group scurried inside to the bar and inn where they all drank hot cider in attempts to keep out the chill that had leaked in with the opening of the door.

Ludwig gazed out the window briefly and looked up at the clouds as he said, "Just be safe out there," to nobody in particular. He then went to join the others and comfort a once again frantic Feli, who was wailing about scary storms and 'why couldn't it just rain pasta instead'.

* * *

_CRACK-BOOM!_

Although tied up, Alfred jumped like he had just been electrocuted. Mathew remained calm, and appeared to have a friendly smirk in his face, as if he knew exactly when each crack of thunder would hit. It was almost creepy…

"I hate big ass storms like these," the knight mumbled to himself.

The Caterpillar had come back in the room soon after the lightning had struck and commented with a sneer, "What, are you afraid your silly armour might rust? Or is it just a little bit of water and lightning that makes you so concerned?" He calmly sipped his tea, as if he too knew all about the storm.

The night sniffed. "No, it's just- aw crap, TONY!" Great… just _great_. Here he was stuck in a storm in a room with a magic 'Caterpillar' and a ghost while his steed was out in the rain with all his provisions. And weapons. And tent. And everything else for that matter.

Then Arthur spoke up, still smirking at the distraught knight with his arms crossed, "Oh, speaking of that horse. I thought you should know, Nat and Kat—those wolves you met—went off yesterday in search for it. It ran off when Feliks went to check on it. Probably lost or eaten by now."

Alfred's expression slowly changed from troubled to a mixture of shock, and worry, and maybe even a bit of fear. "What? Not cool! Tony's my trusty steed! I grew up with him, man!"

Arthur shrugged and took another sip of his tea. "So sorry." he said. He didn't sound sorry at all. More like sarcastic.

"Ass."

"Wanker."

"What gives you the right to start calling me names?" asked a very angry Alfred, "I didn't do anything to you. In fact, what did I do to end up in here, tied up and forced to eat burnt food and _tea_!?"

"My cooking is bloody perfect, you idiot!" Arthur snapped back.

The prisoner snorted, "Really? Because I don't think that you're _supposed_ to burn the food." He didn't even realise that he had been distracted from his original question: _Why was he here?_

The once again forgotten ghost cleared his throat and spoke up, "I thought, Arthur, you might want to know that the elves have made contact through Elizabeta that they are on their way and were last known to be at the northern forest border with the Nordic Mountains."

Arthur immediately straightened and adopted a serious look. He muttered something under his breath that Alfred couldn't make out before turning and with long strides, headed toward the passageway that led out of the little prison. "Matthew, have Feliks prepare the guest quarters and tell the sprites to get ready for company. We will need food, and I'm sure that those five will want dry clothes after their trek through the storm out there." the magic user ordered as he walked.

Matthew nodded and replied, "Right away, Dragon's Boy," before disappearing out of the room.

Alfred took the quiet to speak up before his capture got out of ear-shot, "Hey, why did he call you 'Dragon's Boy'?" he shifted his legs, the rope rubbed against his skin, making him wince, "And could you untie me?"

Arthur paused only long enough to gaze back at his prisoner and reply coldly, "That's none of your business." He didn't even answer Alfred's second question, but he didn't have to. Leaving was answer enough; stupid Caterpillar.

Somewhere far away thunder rumbled. The knight stared around the room, suddenly feeling like it was very large. The silence after the thunder was almost just as unbearable as the loud noise itself. The roll of thunder sounded once more, only this time it was much louder, and seemed to come from closer. Alfred looked up over his head at the grey stone above him. The blonde hoped that everyone back at Annabeth was okay, and that the storm wasn't too much damage to the small town. His knight master hadn't prepared him for anything like this. If anything did happen, they wouldn't have the optimistic blonde there to be the hero and save everyone. Then what would they do?

* * *

Back at Annabeth voices hollered over the noise of the storm. Boots splashed through puddles as their wearers didn't bother to try and avoid them. Everyone was in an almost organized panic. The river just to the east of the town, the Potámi, was on the verge of flooding from all of the rain water. If it did the entire town and most of the valley would be underwater. The town's people ran through the sheets of water that were being dumped on the land. Some of them had been sent to help those that were trying to erect a barrier, some were being set to get as much of the livestock and small children up to higher ground as they could, and others were attempting to save valuables in vain.

"Francis! Get as much of the food as you can in a cart and get one of the horses to pull it. Get two if you have to. Antonio, you need to round up as many of the animals as you can. Have Lovino help you out if you must. Feliciano—"

"Yes, sir?" came a small, scared voice.

Ludwig paused to contemplate the distraught southerner looking up at him. "Make sure that all of the very young and the elders get to safety. Follow Antonio; he knows the way up into the hills better than you do." When addressing the slightly younger, the military general voice softened just a bit. He ruffled Feliciano's hair before turning to the others and resuming giving out orders. "Gilbert, help the others build the barricade. Bring with you a cart and some shovels. Don't waist one of the horses though. I know you can pull it yourself," he continued to give out orders to anyone he found moving without a purpose as he ran down the road to help Gilbert and the others at the barrier.

Antonio and Lovino had run off and started rounding up all of the livestock. While he got the smaller animals like the goats and chickens, Lovino was handling the mules and some of dairy cows. All of them—including the two humans—were nervous from the storm, and this made the horses skittish and the goats unruly. The two were still able to get most of the town's animals on the way to the hills closest to Annabeth.

As the duo worked with the animals, the other Vargas was helping two mothers with the children. They loaded up the little kids and those too old to keep up into a cart which was pulled by a horse. After that was done, Feli led the ropes of the animal's bridle and trailed far enough after Antonio and Lovino that the noises of the livestock were faint, but close enough that in the pouring rain they could still see the grey smudge that marked the other group.

The going was slow, but both parties were able to make it to high ground.

Francis had his own cart that he was loading the second cart with barrels of wine and boxes of food. A couple of slabs of meat, and some cheese made it onto the cart as well as a keg of beer and a few of the caged chickens that were held in the town's only restaurant like establishment (not including the Albino Hawk's pub). He soon was also on his way through the sheets of rain, toward the hills that would offer if not shelter from the storm, then at least protection from any rising waters.

Most of the town was already camping under sparse trees with the animals that Antonio and Lovino had saved. However, there were a few brave souls still down by the Potámi River. Led by Ludwig, they continued through the storm in an attempt to save their homes. They worked to save Annabeth from drowning even when the icy rain turned to sleet, and then beating hail. The small team of maybe eleven worked in shifts until the storm ended.

The sun finally broke through the thick ceiling of grey black clouds six days later.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, next time I'll be on time! But, I am probably going to take a break for the holidays. I'm having a bit of trouble writing for some of the characters in these next two chapters, and I don't know if I'll have any internet or not. If not, then happy holidays! I'll be back again next year!


	4. Chapter 3: Unusual Breakfast Company

**A/N: **I figured that since I had taken a break, and I'd already re-read this chapter for corrections, I might as well update now. It'll do me no good to wait until Wednesday. Not this coming Wednesday, but the one after, everything will be back on schedule. I promise!

* * *

Wir für unsere Überzeugungen zu kämpfen, e onorare la pace

We fight for our beliefs, and honour the peace

* * *

**Chapter 3: Most Unusual Breakfast Company**

Alfred had managed to get some sleep that night despite the loud storm that was still pouring down when he woke. Despite the large amount of rest he had gotten as of late, he had felt dead tired soon after Arthur had left. It was only the smell of food coming from down the passageway that was able to rouse him from his deep, dreamless sleep.

He sat up and looked around. Nothing had changed of course, and it was likely to stay that way. The blonde's gaze dropped to his tied hands and feet. That food smelled _so_ good, but he couldn't get up to get any. It was torturous, just sitting there, while—was that _bacon_? Yep. That was bacon. There were eggs and hash browns. Alfred was so hungry. It felt like he hadn't eaten in forever!

As the knight drooled over the smells that came from the corridor, Matthew drifted out of the wall next to him. The ghost looked at the dazed prisoner for a couple of seconds before speaking up in a quiet voice, "The elves arrived last night."

Alfred could have sworn he jumped five feet despite the ropes on his ankles. "Dude! Don't sneak up on my like that!" he yelped as he turned to look at Matthew, who was hiding behind his stuffed bear.

"I've been here for a while…"

"Yea, sure. Well anyways, why does the food smell so good? There is no way that the Caterpillar can suddenly cook overnight!"

The pale figure let his head droop a little with a sigh, "If by 'the Caterpillar' you mean Arthur, then no, he isn't the one cooking. Lukas and the rest of the elves know that Arthur has a habit of…burning things, so they're cooking breakfast."

Alfred frowned, "Wait, so there's elves, too?"

Matthew held back another sigh, "Were you listening to anything I said?"

"Yep. Hey, Matt, dude, I'm hungry. Could you snag me some bacon or something?"

"Alfred," Matthew paused, "I'm a ghost. I can't carry, pick up, or even touch anything physical. Even if I could, Arthur ordered us not to."

This news sent the knight into a pout. "Not cool." He whined, "I'm starrrrving!"

"You can't be starving. You ate yesterday."

This triggered even more pouting, "But, I _am_. Matt, you're going to kill me! Then the Caterpillar will get in a hissy fit, and you'll have to deal with his wrath!"

Matthew doubted that Alfred would die any time soon, but he relented and started to glide toward the far wall. "Fine, I'll see if Mathias will spare you some sausage." He could hear the echoed reply of a "Thanks man!" as he drifted through the layers of stone, headed to the kitchen.

* * *

A tall man with blonde hair that was in a chaotic mess above sea blue eyes, held a pan of sausage over the kitchen fire. He wore an outfit similar to his four companions—a long tunic of dark brown-green with a thick leather belt and thick brown pants that disappeared into a pair of large woollen boots; each had their own necklaces, earrings, and charms that clinked when they moved—and was grinning widely. All five of the tall figures had pointed ears as well.

"Hey, Lukas!" he shouted in an accented voice, "Catch!" With that he skilfully jerked the pan so that the sausages became airborne, flying toward another elf, one with silver blonde hair and a small stubborn curl. He looked up in time to get a face full of greasy sausages.

After letting the food fall into his hands and be transferred to an empty plate, the not so amused elf who had been hit replied to the cook, "Not funny Mathias. Quit messing around. We're hungry." Lukas wasn't in the mood for joking. His blue-violet eyes were void of any laughter as he crossed his arms.

"Oh come on Lulu! I was just messing around with you!" Mathias said as he tried to hold back laughter and fill the skillet at the same time. This of course, didn't succeed—in favour of not wasting good food, he gave into the laughter.

Another of the elves—this one the shortest of the five, with blonde hair and blue friendly eyes—stepped forward to nab a slice of buttered toast and comment in a cheerful voice, "Yeah, it was only fun and joking, Luk!" Like the rest of the elves, he had an accent to his words.

The only response that the happy elf got was a stern look and a reminder, "My name is Lukas, not Luk, or Lukky, and clearly not Lulu. _Lukas_."

Before Mathias could say something else, Matthew spoke up from the side of the room, where he'd been standing for a while now, "Al- er, the prisoner requested for food. He says he's starving."

The majority of those in the kitchen didn't even notice him though, it was only after the very tallest and quietest of the elves repeated what Matthew had said, "Th' pris'n'r 's 'ungry." His voice was deep and sounded like a solid loud slur, and had cut off Mathais as he made some remark toward Lukas, who was standing with a neutral expression as he watched the sausages in the pan burn behind the cook. All four of the elves turned to look at the one that had spoken and the ghost next to him.

"What was that, Berwald? Couldn't understand you." Mathias commented with an added smirk.

Lukas rolled his eyes and translated, "He said, _Mathias_, that the prisoner is in need of food," he allowed himself a sly grin as he added, "Speaking of food, those sausages are burning."

The fifth elf, who was yet to say something, stepped forward to take the pan. "We can't seem to trust you with anything, can we, Mathias?" His silver hair glinted in the elf's light that floated just below the ceiling in the room's centre to keep it lit. He's appearance was very similar to that of Lukas, only he didn't have the other's curl.

"Aw, Emil, you're getting way too much like your brother, snappy and rude!" Mathias whined.

Emil's eyebrows came together in a frown and he mumbled, "I'm nothing like my brother, you idiot," while he quickly snatched the meat from the hot skillet and tossed them onto the plate with the rest.

The short elf had gone over to Berwald to talk to him while the other three finished breakfast. He was looking up into turquoise eyes that seemed to stare down anyone looking at them and smiled.

"Th'y need t' 'urry up w'th th' food. 'm 'ungry," said Berwald, "'s like th's ev'ry time 'e m'kes food."

Matthew spoke up another time, "Um, hey Tino…" It seemed as if everyone had forgotten that he'd said something in the first place. He floated in front of the shorter elf, "Tino-"

"Ah!" Tino tried to walk backwards, away from the ghost, but he tripped and started to fall. Berwald reached out through Matthew and grabbed the front of Tino's tunic. "D'n't f'll."

The blonde nodded quickly and righted himself with a blush, "Uh, sorry Matthew. What is it?"

The ghost sighed and shifted his hold on his stuffed bear before repeating what he had said before, "The prisoner wants food. He's hungry."

Mathias walked over with a grin and slung an arm around Tino's shoulders. He held out a plate of food to Matthew, "Here, take this to em!" He just looked down at the plate with a sad look in his eyes and didn't try to take it.

The shaggy elf was just about to ask what was wrong when Lukas came over and slapped him upside the head. "What are you thinking? He's a ghost, idiot. He can't take anything to anyone!" Lukas swiped the plate and was headed out of the room before a voice of complaint from the cook could be uttered.

With a couple of elfish words, and a snap of thumb and forefinger, a ball of white light appeared. The light was small, but bright, and it floated on its own in front of its creator. It wasn't that long of a walk to the prisoner's cave, but far enough that the voices from the kitchen faded long before Lukas came to the entrance. He didn't bother announcing his appearance. It wasn't like he couldn't hear him coming, for all the echoing from the cave walls.

Alfred knew Matthew didn't make any noises when he walked or… floated around, so Arthur must be coming to talk to him, for who-knew-what-reason. "Finally decided to untie me?" he shouted.

Lukas didn't respond until he came within the prisoner's line of sight. "No, just dropping off some food. Matthew said you were 'starving'," he paused long enough to look over the blonde, "but I have to disagree. You're very much in good health, if not a little pudgy."

"Hey! I am not fat!"

"I never said you were _fat_. I said you were _pudgy_," clarified the elf.

"They mean the same thing!"

Lukas dropped the subject in favour of walking over and setting the plate down in front of the prisoner. As he moved to stand straight yet again the bound captive gasped.

"You're…you're an _elf_." He looked so shocked that he might collapse. Alfred had only heard of elves in old tales from his mother's servants and the farmers. They whispered of a dying breed that roamed the lands. They were tall, smart, and lived far longer than any normal human. The elves of legend were rare. In fact, as far as they knew, the five elves of the Nordic Mountains were the last of their kind.

Lukas stood and looked down at the captive. "Nice of you to notice. Yes, I am an elf."

For once in his life, Alfred forgot that there was food to be eaten. "No way…."

"Yes way! And there are plenty more of us!" came a voice from down the cave corridor, "Although, most of us aren't nearly as cold and rude as Lukas." Mathias came into the prisoner's cave first. He was followed by Emil, Tino, Berwald, and behind them floated Matthew.

Alfred just sat there and stared at them all. Sure enough, five of them had pointy ears, whose tips were adorn with small silver or gold loops. They were all very tall. Tino, the shortest of the five, was clearly taller than the knight if he stood, and the tallest two, Mathias and Berwald, had to duck when they walked through the passageway so they wouldn't hit their heads.

"Matthew, you didn't say he was a mute!" Mathias remarked with a smile as he squatted down in front of the prisoner. "What's your name?"

Al mentally slapped himself back into motion. He wasn't going to just sit there and stare like a five year old. "Alfred F. Jones, Knight of the High King!" He straightened, and tried to look more heroic, despite the ropes around his wrists and ankles.

Mathias was quiet for a second, just looking at Alfred, before he smiled again and held out a hand, "Mathias Køhler, Elf of the Northern Mountain Range," he paused to gesture behind him without losing his balance, "and that is Tino Väinämöinen—a mouth full of a name if there ever was one. The tall one is Berwald Oxenstierna—don't mind him; he's a gentle giant. Over there is Emil Bondvik, and his brother Lukas Bondvik—who may have brought you the food, but isn't good at much else." Lukas was used to this jabbering, and ignored the comment about his usefulness, or lack of.

Tino smiled and waved, "Hello Alfred."

Berwald waited a second before following Tino's lead and saying, "'llo Alfr'd."

Emil sighed, "Hi."

"Don't get any ideas; we're still your captors." Lukas warned and Mathias let out a good natured chuckle.

"Told ya he was rude!" the tall elf remarked as he stood, "I say we all eat with Alfred."

Tino nodded, "That's a great idea!" He turned and set out down the dimly lit hall, "Come on Berwald. Let's bring the food in here."

It was barely five minutes before the two came back laden down with plates filled with common breakfast dishes of various regions and city-states. Alfred had already finished his portion during the short wait despite his handicap, and he gleefully took a second helping when Tino offered to make him one. The ropes were making this difficult, but the prisoner didn't ask for them to be removed. He was too busy eating, and that hadn't gone well last time he requested it. Lukas and Emil seemed content to remind him that he was even now, their captive every once and a while. That and the Berwald guy scared the shit out of him despite Tino's protests that he meant well.

Alfred was just about to request a third serving, when Mathias started off asking him questions.

"So," he paused to take a large bite of eggs with hash and wash it down with a gulp of water, "You say you're some knight?"

Said knight beamed and sat taller. "Yep, I'm on a quest from the King himself."

"And what is this…quest?" Emil asked.

"There's a bit nasty dragon plundering and striking out at some villages in the south-east. I'm out to slay it, like any hero would!" He seemed very satisfied with his answer, but the elves didn't look so happy.

"No wonder Arthur tied him up and left him to rot." Lukas muttered too quietly for Alfred to have heard him as he make a fork-full of the last scraps on his plate. He raised his voice and asked, "Since this dragon is so horrible, do you know if it has killed anyone?"

Al shrugged, "I bet it has. That's exactly like something a dragon would do. It stole livestock and burned down houses too."

Mathias took up the questioning once more, suddenly all serious, "Do you know that for a fact?"

"I've heard about it on my travels, yea. Why ask?"

"Oh, no reason," it was almost like he was avoiding something, "Just wondering. Who brought you here?"

Alfred didn't notice the quick topic change and continued on answering the questions. "I think it was that guy called Arthur. He was riding some…horse…unicorn…thing."

Tino nodded, "That should be like Feliks! I wonder where he is… Usually he's always one of the first to greet us."

Berwald cut off the smaller with another question for the prisoner, "Do's y'r 'ead 'rt?"

After Alfred just sat there in confusion without answering the question, Tino relayed that Berwald had asked if Alfred's head hurt.

"No, but it was a bitch when I first came here. Arthur really messed with my brain or something. I was just kinda in and out of it for I don't even know how long!" he explained; this lead to the elves exchanging glances and nods. It was like they were having a whole conversation without talking. Alfred shifted around a tad until Lukas broke the silence.

"Do you know where the Dragon's Boy is now?" he questioned.

"Nope, no idea! Hey why do I keep hearing people call him 'the Dragon's Boy'? Is it some kinda fancy title or something?"

Emil stood and got gathering the dishes under way, "We have work to do. We should get moving. Mathias, do the dishes." Mathias whined that Emil was starting to become his older brother's exact twin, and Tino began a happy chat with Berwald. The conversation was a bit one-sided though (neither seemed to mind).

As the elves picked up the breakfast, Alfred wondered why they hadn't answered his question. He should try asking something different instead. "Hey, can you at least untie me? These ropes are going to rub my wrists raw," he was almost whining for them to cut the bindings.

Tino looked hopefully to Berwald, who turned to Emil standing next to him. He, in turn, looked to Lukas with that dull gaze they both carried. Lukas glared back for a quiet second before turning to Mathias. Before the silver haired elf could say a thing, Mathias grinned and walked to Alfred, pulled out a glinting knife, and sliced at the ropes against Alfred's wrists and ankles. With the quick, careless motion that he had used, the knight had thought the knife would cut through to his skin. However, it just slid through the ropes with the ease of a knife through warm butter and barely even touched him.

"Don't get any ideas. You're still our prisoner, and you can't move out of this room, or you'll fall unconscious," Lukas warned him, "And I promise that it won't be as pleasant as when Arthur knocked you out."

Alfred stretched his arms up and out, listening to the satisfying sound of popping. "Dude, it was a pain in the ass the first time! No way am I gonna go through that again!"

Lukas narrowed his eyes in annoyance at being called 'Dude', but didn't have time to voice his complaints. Mathias—of course, it was always him—spoke first, "Take it slow. Your body won't be used t-"

The happy fair-haired knight had stood up and attempted to walk. His legs were like jelly though. Jelly with no ability to support a grown knight and collapsed almost as soon as he had stood. "Ow, my nose…" Alfred complained as his face met the cold stone floor.

Mathias smiled and patted him roughly on the back while Tino checked to make sure he hadn't obtained any long-lasting damage, "Tried to warn you!" He soon went back to pestering Lukas as they walked back through the passageway to the rest of the caves. Tino was the last to leave, letting Berwald wait in the archway as he gave Alfred a farewell. "Goodbye!"

"Bye!" Al said, cheerily despite his bruised nose and weak limbs. He even smiled as they left. How odd; a prisoner smiles and bid his captures goodbye when they leave him. He sure was nice in Tino's opinion. Too bad he had been sent on that quest. Maybe they might have nonetheless met. The elves would have been in disguise of course, but they surely still would have gotten along just as well (even if Alfred was a little annoying).

Berwald looked down, "wh'ts wr'ng?"

Tino sighed. "Oh, nothing." Too bad.

* * *

**A/N: **Another chapter finished and several new characters have been introduced. We meet the Nordics, and they're elves! Mathias was so much fun to write for, but I felt like I kept messing up with Emil and Lukas.

Because some of the Nordics don't have official names, here is who is who:

Mathias Køhler: Denmark

Tino Väinämöinen: Finland

Berwald Oxenstierna: Sweden

Lukas Bondvik: Norway

Emil Bondvik: Iceland

Puffin will join the story as well, but he comes in later on, as with some others that aren't countries. I'll point them out when they come, and the same goes to the countries without official names (but only when they appear, not just mentioned).


	5. Chapter 4: Home in Time for Trouble

**A/N:** Ah, well, it seems that I can't keep a bloody schedule...

Yesterday I had a paper to write, so I didn't necessarily have time after school, and then I started watching Doctor Who, and before I knew it, it was 1:00… Needless to say I completely forgot to update. Sorry again, here is the next chapter! (Better late than never right?)

* * *

_Wir für unsere Überzeugungen zu kämpfen, e onorare la pace_

_We fight for our beliefs, and honour the peace_

* * *

**Chapter 4: Home in Time for Trouble**

Hooves kicked up clods of dirt and grass as rider and beast weaved through the familiar trees. The rider didn't even look back as they soared over brambles and fallen logs. The limbs and branches tugged on an already ripped cloak. Both of them were breathing hard. They'd been at a gallop for a little over a day now; no stops, no breaks.

Soon, they were not alone.

Five more horses; each with a rider armed to the teeth. Their steeds were lightly armoured, and the metal on their torsos glinted in the pools of sunlight that fell through the canopy. No one spoke, but there was no need. Everyone knew the characteristics of the knight's mission: kill the dragon.

The chase was on. The first horseman, the one who was now a good five meters ahead of the others, bent low over his sweating horse's blond mane. "Feliks, how long do you think you can keep this up?" whispered the cloaked rider. Said horse was not actually a horse though, but a white unicorn from the legends.

"Maybe like…. two more… hours," the unicorn informed him between ragged breaths.

The hooded head turned to look above them and through the treetops. "Mint, Tink, and Puffin should be ready by then. Start heading toward the forest border near the Potámi River. We'll meet them there." Those fairies better be ready by then and not bickering over some trivial little thing.

They ran past great oaks and leaped over the tangled bushes of holly. The five horsemen were closing in behind them. They may not have the supreme knowledge of the Mysticum Silva like the one they chased, but they had fresh horses, and there were more of them. The knights knew that they would surely capture this strange forest-born and his even stranger mount. What fine additions to the High King's trophy hall.

* * *

Arthur didn't trust those elves alone with his prisoner for a second; let alone the four days he had been gone. He was riding hard back to his caves, and—although it wasn't good for Feliks to be galloping so hard for so long after such a short break—he had a hunch. A very bad hunch, to be exact.

And Arthur's hunches were almost always right.

He could just imagine what Alfred had gotten away with. Knowing Mathias, they were probably sitting around the fire, drinking stolen ale, and telling stories of faraway lands. Arthur was going to skin the elf alive if he just let the prisoner wonder about like that, unsupervised. He was banking on the fact that Lukas and Emil were unlikely to ever agree to something so ridiculous. Tino _might_ have agreed, and Berwald would just follow Tino's lead.

"Feliks, we're getting close. You can slow down if you want," said the cloaked blond.

The unicorn slowed and tossed its head, making a ripple go through his equally fair-haired mane, "That is like… totally good to hear." He was a bit out of breath from the trip.

Arthur straightened up and put his index finger and thumb in his mouth. He took a deep breath, blowing out a high whistle that was sure to carry far through the forest.

A small head poked out of his scruffy mop of hair. Its ears were long and pointed, and its tiny black eyes narrowed. "Hey, Arthur! That hurt! Warn us before you do that again!" an obviously masculine voice whined.

"Sorry Puffin, I forgot that you guys were napping," the rider apologized, "You needed to wake up anyway. We're almost there, and the elves are visiting. You wouldn't want to be asleep when you could be with Emil, would you?" Arthur let a smile tug at his lips with the thought of the tiny fairy-man trying to give the tall elf a hug.

Puffin's black spiked hair made a little _woosch_ through the air when he shook his head. "You have a fair point, Dragon's Boy."

Arthur looked up in the direction of the little man on his head and sighed, "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

Puffin smiled as another sleepy head poked up through Arthur's raggedy hair. It belonged to a small girl with turquoise skin and hair, "This would be the one-hundred and twenty-fifth time, Dragon's Boy."

The said man rolled his eyes and argued, "Mint, I've told you before, and I'll tell you once more. My name is Ar-"

A short man with pointed ears that grew out from his choppy shoulder length brown hair at a horizontal appeared from the underbrush before Feliks. He's face broke out into a toothy smile and he shouted, "Dragon's Boy! Feliks! You're back!"

Arthur started to argue, but was quickly cut off when an additional short person with pointy ears came out from behind the first.

He gasped shortly before turning back from the direction they had come to say, "Raivis! They came back! Inform the elves right away!"

Rustling could be heard as someone nervously replied, "R-right aw-way, Eduard."

The unicorn turned his head to look back at his very annoyed, but happy rider, "Can you like, dismount?"

The black haired fairy had already flown off, and two more had flown from Arthur's mop before he could jump to the ground. "I will head back," he said as he began to walk after the others. The Dragon's Boy stopped to nod to the brown-haired man that still stood where he had appeared, "Toris."

Toris nodded back, "Arthur." He barely finished the nod before being tackled to the ground by a man with slightly long, straight hay-coloured hair.

"Toris! I like, totally missed you!"

"Feliks… you're going to crush me!"

"I so am not! Come on Toris!"

"Yes… yes you are. Please, get off."

"Fine, but I'm like, going to Arthur right now to tell him he should totally let sprites come next time." Feliks got off of his friend and stood up.

Instead of hooves he had pale feet and hands. The unicorn had used magic to change himself into a human, but the transformation was nevertheless incomplete. Feliks even now had a mane that grew along his neck as well as the hair on his head. A blond horse's tail swished just above the ground. Poking out of his shoulder length hair was a beautiful white horn, marking him as an animal of the forest simply in human's skin. The half-man, half-unicorn smiled at Toris. "And there is like, no way you could stop me."

The sprite threw a pair of shorts and a shirt at Feliks. "I know you're joking. There is no way you'd ever let me go," he turned and started walking after Arthur and the others, "Get dressed. I cooked goulash and kasha for you, and it's bound to be getting cold by now."

* * *

Ten people—five elves, three sprites, a unicorn, and a man—sat with logs as backrests around a fire. There were small clanks as they quickly devoured their meal. Other than that it was quiet. Everyone was hungry, and the food was good; there would be time to talk when all of the plates and bowls had been emptied. Puffin silently sat in Emil's hair, and the two other fairies—Tink and Mint—watched from atop Arthur.

It was Arthur who first broke the silence. "How is the prisoner?" Everyone there knew that what he said translated to "you guys didn't screw up and let him loose, did you?" The elves were very easily the oldest ones in the cave, but Arthur was clearly in charge.

Mathias opened his mouth to say something, but Lukas cut in before he could comment, "Fine. He is fine." Mathis glared at the other elf as he filled up his bowl for a second time.

Tino nervously laughed as Mathias took a monstrous chug of ale, and let out a long sigh. He then proceeded to lean back against his log, then cross his legs and put his hands behind his head, glancing sidelong with one eye at Arthur.

The forest born shifted uncomfortably under the elf's gaze, before settled on looking at the rest of the dinner crew. No one returned his look; they were all conveniently looking away and finding interest in their food or cave around them. Something was up.

Mathias took another, but smaller, swig of his drink. At this point, Arthur wasn't the only one in the room thinking he was going to get drunk at this rate when he commented, "Mathias, if the prisoner is as fine as Lukas says, then why are you downing our stash of ale like a nervous drunk?"

Trying to get himself out of trouble, or at least lessen Arthur's anger at him, Mathias looked to Lukas with a begging look. Lukas simply rolled his eyes and crossed his legs, "You're getting yourself out of this one."

Mathias finished off his ale and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before beginning to speak, "Um, well he wanted some food one morning, so Lukas took him a plate, and the rest of us were curious about what the hell he was like, so we ended up eating breakfast with him."

Arthur sighed in annoyance and stared into the flames of the fire before him. "I just cannot allow a cocky knight like him anywhere near the dragon." Straightening, he took a sip of his drink—most everybody had finished eating at that point. "All of you know why," he said firmly, staring deep into the eyes of his guests to drive his point home.

Standing up and brushing his pants off, Arthur began to turn to leave the room, but stopped and said, "All of you. Please see to it that git is kept in captivity until I figure out what to do with him. This does not mean eat with him."

He then left the dark cave, fading into the shadows. The remaining creatures around the fire mumbled in unison, "As you wish, Dragon's Boy."

* * *

It was the following afternoon before Arthur had time to go and check on the knight. Matthew had been keeping him company for the past couple of days it seemed. It was good that the ghost was making a friend. Even if it was the prisoner, Matthew was shy, and he didn't talk to most; not that many even recognized that he existed in the first place.

Arthur shook himself out of his thoughts when he realized he was nearing the prisoner's cave entrance. The forest born casually flicked a finger and the cavern's elf's light glowed brighter as he walked in.

"Decided to visit again, did ya?" asked the way too energetic knight.

"Just making sure that you're still he- They untied you!"

Alfred grinned and stood up, still shaky from days of only small amounts of movement. It wasn't that he was weak—no, he was definitely well muscled, but sitting around for so long without stand would leave anyone a bit weak in the knees. "Yep!" he was still grinning for some daft reason, "And I'm glad they did, 'cause I can't just _sit _all day being hungry down here. Do you know how boring it is to be stuck in this room with _absolutely nothing_ to do?"

Arthur's lips thinned and he narrowed his eyes in dull annoyance. "No, I don't," he paused to take a couple more steps into the room, "and I have half a mind to tie you up again. This time I'll make sure that you can't bloody speak either."

This caused the blond to shut his mouth, but didn't stop him from looking at Arthur with a kicked-puppy look. He probably was used to just flashing those hurt eyes and getting whatever he wanted, but Arthur wasn't about to cave in so simply.

"There are leftovers from last night's dinner. I'll have Toris or Raivis bring them in for you." And he'd given in.

Alfred's face immediately lit up like a bond fire and he smiled wide. "Dude, thanks!" he was way too happy about the prospect of food in Arthur's opinion. The Dragon's Boy just scowled and folded his arms, "My name is _Arthur_. Not… 'Dude'."

"Ok!" Alfred's grin turned mischievous, "_Caterpillar_." He sat down hard and laughed as he watched the other sputter and go red in anger.

"YOU BLOODY TOUSER! My name is Arthur!" This just caused the prisoner to laugh harder though. Clearly a different approach was necessary. "Fine then, forget about the food. You'll just have to stay down here and starve to death."

All laughter was cut off immediately.

"What?! No! You can't do that! That's unfair! You don't see me threatening to take your food away!"

"I'm not the one that's found myself imprisoned by a mage."

"Hey, all I did was walking through your forest when those rabid wolves _attacked_ me. I go out hunting and get attacked by a _deer_ and then you come along and knock me out! I did nothing!"

Arthur sighed and rubbed his temple with his forefinger. This was turning into quite the argument. "Yes, you walked into _my_ forest and tried to eat _my_ friend; not to mention—" there was a pause as he built up his anger, "—you're out to slay the dragon that practically _raised_ me!" His voice had been dangerously quiet, but it had climbed the scale and was a loud shout when he finished.

Alfred sat there looking dumbfounded. "Wait a seco—…._what_?! HOLY SHIT!" He scrambled around on the stone floor until his back hit the wall behind him with a _thump_.

This was too much. The forest born turned and fled the room. He started running when he got halfway down the corridor, and barely stopped to grab his bow and quiver before sprinting out into the woods.

Tino was just about run over when he entered the main cave, but he quickly dodged aside. "Arthur! Where are you going?" When the mage just kept running Tino frowned and jogged to the cave entrance. "Arthur, what happened?!" He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Dragon's Boy!"

It almost seemed to the confused elf like Arthur had started running faster…

* * *

The elves, sprites, and Feliks had all gathered together and it was decided that the unicorn would be the one to try and go calm their friend down. No one bothered to go to the prisoner and ask him what had gone on, because they'd figured out by now that it was better if they went to Arthur before going to the other party. After all, out of the nine of them, he had known Arthur the longest.

Feliks knew Arthur preferred talking to him when he had hooves and looked like a real unicorn, so he hugged Toris goodbye and headed after his blond friend at a trot. It didn't take him long before he could hear the sounds of someone upset and angry.

The peaceful forest day was irregularly interrupted with the noise of someone loading a bow very clumsily. They were crying, Feliks could tell from the heavy quiet pauses. The unicorn had encountered an unhappy Arthur with a weapon enough times to know to wait until after Arthur had shot an arrow and before he'd fit another to the bow before he made his presents known.

Arthur was standing in a small clearing—in fact, it probably couldn't even be called a clearing—facing a tree with multiple arrows stuck in its trunk. There were more arrows littered around the base, and only two were left in the quiver that had been dropped in a patch of flowers. The forest was unnaturally quiet, accept for the noise that Arthur was making. The two were truly alone.

Nothing was said for a while as Arthur emptied the quiver of its cargo. He had to have seen Feliks by now, but neither spoke. The forest born reached down for another arrow, and when the only thing he grasped in his hand was empty air, he crumpled to the ground and drew his legs up to his chest—the bow left forgotten in the dirt. Feliks took this as a sign that he could approach. He nuzzled Arthur's face and playfully chewed on his hair.

"I yelled at him."

The unicorn stopped chewing and lay down with his head in the other's lap. A hand absently stroked his ears. It was a while before Arthur spoke again.

"He just wanted to know why we're keeping him locked up."

Again, another pause, and neither of them moved accept for the rhythmic movement of Arthur's hand.

"…I got mad at him….and I told him about the dragon." The last part was quiet and muffled. It took a bit before Feliks realized what he'd said, but he tried his best to hide his shock. It would have been easy, but Arthur quickly caught onto the sudden swish of a tail and flick of an ear. He was always one to pay attention to little things like that.

"Tell the others when we get back if you'd like. I don't care." He was definitely sad if he had said that. It was like the boy was _telling_ Feliks to go and gossip about him. This was not good. Nope, it wasn't good.

Suddenly Arthur's gentle strokes stopped and he picked up a pebble next to him, swinging his arm back and throwing it hard at the tree across from them. His throwing aim was bad on a good day, and the pebble went wide. Just as Feliks had feared; the sadness had been funnelled into anger. _Uh oh_…

"The wanker deserved it! He called me a caterpillar! A bloody _caterpillar_! I'll show him a caterpillar! Let's see how the git likes being turned into a bug!" Another thrown pebble punctuated the end of the tantrum with a clatter as it landed among the arrows sticking out of the grass like some strange patch of flowers. The anger faded just as quickly though, and it was back to stroking the unicorn's ears.

They stayed that way for a little longer before Feliks figured Arthur had calmed down, and he dared to speak. "Maybe you should like….try to apologize to him. He totally deserves one."

There was barely any time for Feliks to move out of the way before Arthur got up and grabbed his bow and the quiver. He left at a jog and was headed back to the cave. Feliks raised his head happily before he started to gather the arrows, glad to have been able to help his friend come to the right conclusion.

* * *

**A/N:** And so much lovely drama! The "caterpillar" nickname came back up again (not that I _forgot_ about it or anything). And yes, Feliks has known Arthur for a while. After all, Feliks is Arthur's "steed" sometimes; they should know each other pretty well.

I'm writing about Annabeth right now, and for some reason out of all of the townsfolk, Francis is getting quite the background. My brain is coming up with all sorts of stuff for his past. Maybe I'll share it one day or something…


	6. Chapter 5: Welcoming of the Unexpected

**A/N:** Surprise! I'm actually updating a day before planned. (yay!) I thought that since I've been slacking off on my due date, and I got a lot of very happy reviews, I would update early if I could. Half of the chapter is back at Annabeth, and the last half is from the forest.

If it is difficult to tell, the very first scene is with Ludwig (reminder: he's trying to save Annabeth from the flood).

* * *

_Wir für unsere Überzeugungen zu kämpfen, e onorare la pace_

_We fight for our beliefs, and honour the peace_

* * *

**Chapter 5:** **Welcoming Many of the Unexpected**

It never seemed to stop raining.

They tried to stop it, but there was just so much water, and they had so little time. Shovels and worn out men can only do so much.

Water. Everwhere. It's all just water; a flood.

Romano and Antonio's garden… the Albino Hawk… Francis's tailor shop…. Everything. Just gone. Swept away without a second thought. Despite their efforts, it all failed.

And now there was too much water.

"No…." The town will survive.

"_Nein._" Everyone will start over again, fresh and new. It would be second beginning. Even if they had to fight, they could do it. Just like what the town's motto said. _Wir für uns—_

"—_ere Überzeugungen zu kämpfen,_—"

* * *

"—_e onorare la pace_! Ve~" Feliciano smiled down at the little girl before him. "Now remember, even if we lose our homes, and the rain comes back, we'll still be a town, and we'll still be ok! We just have to follow our motto!" he tilted his head and leaned forward, looking the young girl in the eye and tried to be serious, "And what's Annabeth's motto?"

"Um…"

"Come on! I know that you know it!" He smiled again and encouraged her to remember.

"Uhh…_W-wir…für unsere…Über…Überzeugingem? Zu kämpfen, e onorare la pace_!" The girl gain more confidence as she continued on, and almost ended up shouting the end in her excitement.

Feliciano giggled, "Close! I have trouble with the big words too! It's _Überzeugungen_! Ve~ Kinda hard, but Ludwig's always correcting me." Suddenly the mood grew dim, and the pair's happiness turned sour.

"He…he was really good at remembering the first part…" Feliciano looked on the edge of tears.

A man that almost seemed to be an exact copy of Feliciano walked up to the duo. He had darker hair, and a scowl on his face though, "Get over it Feli! He's gone. He's been gone for eight days now, including six days of hard rains. He probably got swept away by the river or something… him and the rest of them."

Another man—this one looked much more optimistic, and had curly hair and green eyes—hugged the first from behind, "Oh Lovi~ Don't be so mean to your brother!" It seemed that he had a permanent smile on his face, "I'm sure that Ludwig, his brother, and everyone else are out there. They'll come back home soon~"

Lovino tried to shove off the surprise hug attack, but to no avail, "Antonio! Get the fuck off!"

Feliciano butted in, attempting to stop the argument before it got out of control. "_Fratello_!" he cried, "Don't say that when there's a little girl around!" He clamped his hands over the oblivious young girl's ears.

"I'll say whatever I fuckin' want to!"

"My, my, what is going on here? Ohononon~" Francis seemed to come up out of nowhere on the other side of Feliciano. There was a gleam in his eye as he watched Lovino and Antonio struggle. "Has the matador finally caught his bull, _mon ami_?" he asked playfully.

Antonio said, "Sí!" at the same time that Lovino said, "NO!" This caused the argument to develop into a three way verbal war, and soon Feliciano and the girl lost interest in the conversation. The little girl ran away to play with her friends while the Vargas brother quietly sat in the grass, looking out at the flat land below the mountains and hills, and thought about the lost citizens of Annabeth.

Francis soon joined his friend sitting and looking out where Annabeth used to stand. The ground was muddy, and little had been spared from the waters of the flood. There were vast patches of ground that were just bare muddy plains. Every now and then they could see where a house still partially stood; a wall here, a doorway or chimney there.

"Ve~ It's going to take a really long time to rebuild the town… Especially without Ludwig and Gilbert…"

The blond smiled and looked over at his friend, "Feli?"

"Sí?"

"Listen to Big Brother Francis for a moment," he rested a hand on the younger's shoulder. For once there wasn't a hidden intention behind the gesture, "Even if they're gone, we can honour their effort by carrying on, _non_?"

Feliciano nodded, "Ve~"

The hand slipped down to rest low on Feli's back and Francis smiled, "We'll make it."

Soon Lovino and Antonio's bickering quit in the favour of raiding the provisions of its dwindling store of tomatoes. Francis went off as well, presumably to go flirt with the women. Little Feli stayed and watched the sun start to dip down below the horizon, capturing the sky in beautiful shades of orange and pink. It would make the perfect painting…

Feliciano's eyes grew wide as he noticed something below. "_In fretta, vieni a vedere!_ Lovi! Francis! Antonio! Come look! They're back! _Sono tornati! Sono tornati!_" The small man took off through the camp and toward the trail that lead from where Annabeth had once stood. He smiled and shouted as loud as he could, "They came back! _Sono tornati! _They came back! _Vieni a vedere!_"

Now, Feliciano wasn't a very strong or physically fit man; he was small, and weak. He never ran or jogged with Gilbert, and he surely didn't lift weights with Ludwig. About the only real exercise he got was from cooking at the inn, but right now Feliciano was practically a blur as he ran through the town's makeshift camp. He zipped around a cart, smiling, and ran into Ludwig.

"Ludwiggggg!~"

The small number of townspeople that had come back were all weary and tired, and Ludwig was no exception. He stumbled and barely managed to keep from falling backwards from the energy of his friend.

While those two hugged—Ludwig was even hugging Feli back and Feli kissed his cheek—Gilbert, Francis, and Antonio had their own little reunion. The wives and families of those finally coming to Annabeth's camp came to greet their return home. Among the happy joyful faces, there were a few with tears—not out of happiness, but bitter sadness that their certain someone wasn't there.

Eventually order was at least somewhat restored when Gilbert and his two friends climbed up onto a cart and announced that tomorrow they would hold a celebration, today would be for rest and tending to any wounds. The day after would be reserved for mourning the thankfully few people that were lost to the water. Ludwig got up and added that they would also need to start planning what to do now that their town had been washed away.

Everything was starting to fall back into place. There were still many new things though; starting with the fact that they no longer had an actual town, and ending with Ludwig's new found permanent airhead red-brown haired shadow.

While everyone else was going around and helping the wounded, talking to those that had arrived, Francis found himself alone on a grassy hill. From his vantage point, the tailor could see out across the ruined town and flooded river. The tips of the Sun's rays were disappearing, and navy blue swept across the sky from the East.

Francis quietly enjoyed the beautiful scene and let his thoughts wonder out to faraway places. How was everyone back home in Rosebury? What about Alfred? Where was their wondering knight?

"Come back soon, _mon ami_. We are waiting. _Bon voyage._"

* * *

Following his unicorn friend's advice, a thick-eyebrowed forest born made his way to the prisoner's cave at a fast walk. Actually, the "walk" was more of an almost-run-but-not-quite.

He took only a breath's moment to compose himself before storming in—unannounced—to said cave. Upon entering he found a very bored, very energetic prisoner with nothing to do. This combination made the blonde knight hyper. The visitor sighed; very hyper and extremely _annoying_.

"Hey, Caterpillar! What day is it? I was out for a while when I first got here, so I don't know, but I'd kinda like to. Oh! Do you have any food? I'm starving! OR, OR! Can I go get it myself? Anything to get away from these same. Twelve. Walls. Of. Stone." He punctuated the last five words by jumping up and hitting these walls. In truth there were no set "walls" to the room, just a sloping domed roof, but it seemed that this prisoner had counted twelve walls, and so twelve walls there would be.

Before another speedy wall of words could be started, a different voice interjected the speech. It was a bit tired from running to the cave, and then speed walking to this cavern—which wasn't close to any exit at all—but never the less, it was very unsympathetic and daring.

"I, Arthur Kirkland, mage of Magnesium Silva, challenge you, Alfred F. Jones, knight of the high king, to a sword duel. Now."

Alfred widened his eyes at this new announcement, but soon recovered and almost leaped at his captor. "Finally! Something to doooo!" He started to run past Arthur, but was quickly stopped by an arm that barred his way.

"Don't be stupid. Unless if you want to be electrocuted and knocked unconscious, I suggest you wait until I take down the wards first."

Alfred's eyes widened and he backed away respectively, "If there are these so called 'wards', then why aren't you and the elf guys burned to crisps every time you come 'n' go from here?" The knight folded his arms and tried to look impressive as per usual. There was no way a hero like him would not figure that one out. If they thought he was stupid or something, they had another thing comin'.

The mage didn't even pause in his work, and his voice was a plain monotone, "I took a few strands of hair from you and put them in the spell."

"Pft, I knew that. I was just testing you!"

The Caterpillar didn't answer him. Just as Alfred was about to start talking again, green smoke curled off of the mage's fingertips. He then noticed that his captor was standing perfectly straight, his arms held out like they were pressed against a wall, and he was muttering something too quiet to be properly heard. That was strange… there was noth—

It was like the smoke had been injected into something. Soon a wall stood before them, blocking the way. The green smoke looked almost solid, but thin. One touch and the whole thing would shatter, but Arthur had both hands pressed firmly to the surface, and it was holding pretty darn well. Alfred brought his eyebrows together in confused concentration. How did that work?

Arthur had been still as a statue this entire time, and Alfred was on the verge of poking him to make sure he was alive, or at least conscious, or something. But then one of those massive eyebrows twitched and the wall of green smoke shattered like glass.

"Wow, dude, did you break that with a twitch or something?"

The mage didn't answer; he took a very large breath and stormed out of the cave. As he reached beyond the feeble light from the prisoner's cave, a small—but very bright—ball of light floated up to sit above Arthur's head. He turned and Alfred thought that for a second the light flickered green, but maybe it was just him.

"Are you coming, git, or after begging to be release, you're just going to stand there and drool?" The insult had plenty of bite behind it, and Alfred blinked his wide eyes before confidently walking after the other, trying his best to catch up and stay caught up. Arthur was walking really fast…

"So, are there like 'terms' to this duel, or is just for fun?" the prisoner asked.

"Well, we could just have a sword fight," maybe it was just Alfred, but those green eyes seemed able to burn holes into him right now, "or we could place bets on the winner. Let's say… you win and I'll let you free. You can do whatever you want, so long as you don't bring harm to the dragon."

Alfred's brain drug up the scene from earlier, but he shoved it back down. He'd been spending the time since Arthur had fled trying to calm down, and quit freaking out, because it wasn't like the mage was about to sprout bat wings and fly off or something silly like that. Not that he'd thought about it or anything.

Arthur was walking with purpose and stiff movements. He was boiling mad, and ready to show this idiotic knight who was boss around here, and it wasn't someone running around on a horse claiming to be a bloody hero. A real hero would never allow the injustice that the king was committing against the dragon. A real hero would—

"Arthur! What's going on? I thought you were going to talk things ov—YOU'RE RELEASING HIM?!" The sprite, Eduard, had been headed down to the prisoner's cave with some left over soup and bread. He'd never expected to run into Arthur walking like he was marching off to murder and of all people _the prisoner_ cheerfully—if not a bit confused—walking behind him, unbounded.

Arthur spun around with fire in his eyes. "Of course I'm not releasing him bloody moron! This pathetic fat arse and I are going to have a duel. It's a one round match and we have placed bets on the winner. The stakes are high, so I suggest you pick your side now, or stay the hell out of it." Arthur balled his hands up into fists and stomped off once again.

The sprite hovered, stunned for a second, and then ran off into the forest to alert the rest of the creatures. There was going to be a duel between the Dragon's Boy and his prisoner; there was no way anybody would want to miss this.

Alfred walked behind Arthur for about a minute before he ran to catch up with Arthur and match his stride. "Ugh!" The knight muttered. He hadn't used his muscles in a while, so he would probably be weaker than his usual in the match. The knight can't afford to lose; he must for the king and his honour. No way would he lose to some Caterpillar! Speaking of which; the "Caterpillar" was mumbling furiously and glaring at the earth as he tromped on ahead.

"This bloody arse is going to have another thing coming if he even for one second thinks that he could defeat the great Mage of the Mysticum Silvia..."

Alfred—never one to sense the mood—interrupted his rumblings with a quick wondering thought, "Uhhh, dude? You okay?"

Arthur only sped up in response, both his peace and quiet ranting. On a couple of instances he instinctively reached for his bow or an arrow on his back, but all he had with him was a brown quiver slung over a shoulder and his book.

After that, Alfred was quiet for once. He was focusing the best he could on deep breathing before this match and making sure that his body would be able to move muscles and joints that have become lazy or weak over long periods of disuse. Sometimes he would just stare at Arthur fuming mad because he thought that the other's face was hilarious; all bunched up in fury with thick eyebrows draw together. He looked just like a pissed off caterpillar.

Alfred had just opened his mouth to comment when their pace slowed. "Hey, where are we?"

The prisoner and the Dragon's Boy arrived at a small clearing, if you could even call it that. It was more similar to a patch in the forest where the trees simply decided not to grow, forming a perfect oval shape; the perfect ring for watching spectators. Trees lined the outer edges, and vegetation blanketed the ground.

Arthur took his bag and the quiver off his shoulder before walking over to a tree at the very edge of the cleared ground and dropping them at the base of its trunk. The mage turned and leaned against the oak tree, looking around at the clearing in front of him.

Alfred looked around them, "So, where are the swords we're gonna use? Or are we gonna fight with wooden sticks?" The last part was a joke, but Arthur still shot a glare at him for it.

"First off prat, it's 'going to' not 'gonna'. Quit butchering the language. Secondly," he kicked off from the tree bark and walked past his opponent, "the sprites are here with our swords."

Indeed, two short and long eared sprites were walking toward them from the direction that they had come. They both were blond, but the one on the left had more of a golden-brown mop than his companion's pale yellow. The knight noticed that he also had a slight shutter. The other stood straight and wore simple wire-framed glasses like Alfred's own pair.

The two stopped in front of Arthur and nodded their heads in greetings.

"H-hello," stuttered the nervous looking sprite.

The other said a simple "Good day" to Alfred, and "Hello, Dragon's Boy" to Arthur. It dawned on Alfred that they must call him that because of this so called _kind_ dragon that had raised him. It still seemed like complete crap to the blue-eyed knight though…

…and really really _weird._

Alfred was brought back to the clearing when Arthur picked up his sword and did a test swing using the blade. It was a simple one-hand short sword. "Thank you Raivis," he said to the shaky elf. Forest green eyes turned to Alfred, "Are you _going to _pick up your sword any time soon? Eduard can't hold that giant broadsword forever."

Man, Caterpillar was snappy today. Alfred rolled his eyes and took his sword from Eduard. "Thanks." He weighed the blade in his hands; clasping the two-handed grip with both hands, he swung his sword down in a wide ark.

"The sword in your belt was a broadsword, so I figured you'd at least know how to fight with one." That was right; Arthur had all of the knight's stuff. He would have obviously disarmed his prisoner and inspected the weapon. Alfred hoped that when he won and was allowed to leave this stupid forest that he'd get all of his stuff back. Tony, too; he had to still be alive and wondering around the trees somewhere.

The sprite nodded once more and took a step back to stand next to Raivis. He looked at both of the duellers. "Remember, this isn't a fight to the death, just until someone surrenders, or can no longer fight. No maiming and no magic and _please_ don't kill each other." Alfred noticed that like everyone else here, Eduard had a slight accent to his voice.

Arthur held his blade up above his head so the sunlight that shown through the tree leaves glinted along its length. Alfred was quick to copy his movements, but the gesture lacked all forms of elegance that Arthur's had. Surveying the small forest arena, he noticed that the forest dwellers that would be watching them had started to arrive. Vash and Lili were amongst the first to appear through the trees as the sprites went to find a seat.

"Ah Vash, Lili, good to see you," the young mage greeted them with a small smile.

"Yes, and it's good to see you too; Dragon's Boy, Prisoner," the young doe nodded her head in their directions as she said each name. "A pleasant afternoon to watch a duel," Lili continued.

Alfred still wasn't used to the fact that his potential dinner was talking to him, but he shrugged it off for the time being. There were many more important matters to concentrate on, like the fact that he would be fighting against a mage with forest creatures as spectators.

"I still think you are too young for this kind of thing, Lili," her older brother said; his voice full of concern. He then looked at the two young men and said "We will remain neutral for this match, but good luck to each of you."

Lili then walked to the two duellers. She looked up at Arthur first, and he held out his hand for her. She gave Arthur and Alfred each a flower that had been picked earlier that day and carefully not eaten. "Well, just be safe." Her voice was quiet—peaceful.

As the doe and Vash meandered to find a good watching spot, Feliks and the sprites arrived. Before they knew it, Alfred and Arthur were standing in the clearing surrounded by the creatures of the forest, about to have their first match. The winner was unknown, but it would soon be clear who was the better swordsman.

Alfred gulped. He looked out at the animals around them. The elves and sprites were sitting together, Mathias was bothering Lukas about something and Tino laughed good-naturedly. There was a ghostly shape, and Alfred smiled as he saw Matthew wave to him from behind Feliks and Toris.

The knight's attention was drawn back to his opponent, and behind him there was a glint as the sun reflected from something in the forest. Alfred thought he saw the face of one of the two wolves that had attacked him. Hopefully Tony was still safe and whole.

"Come on oh heroic knight!" Arthur smirked as he raised his blade, calling the attention back to him, "Fight!"

Alfred glanced down at the strange sword in his two handed grip and took a deep breath. He gave his own smile, "You'll remember this, Caterpillar, as the time that you were defeated by your own prisoner."

The captive ran at his captor and swung the blade through forest air. Cheers went up as the first _clang_ of metal on metal sounded. The duel had begun.

Mathis leaned over to Emil, "Three necklaces and dish duty for a week that the knight wins."

Emil smirked, "Two weeks at least."

As the two elves sealed the bet with a hand shake, Lukas let the corner of his mouth turn up in the beginnings of a smile. He whispered to Emil, "Brother, I do believe that Mathias will be doing our dishes tonight."

* * *

**A/N: **Ok, so I forgot to do this on the last chapter, so I'll start now. I have notes that I keep on the world of the Dragon's Boy, and when I shared my notes on the setting with Nihon (a friend of mine that is editing for me) she said that it would be helpful if I posted them for you all to see. In the future (unless if everyone asks for me to do otherwise), every time a new location is mentioned I will add any notes I have on it to the bottom of the chapter below the A/N. For now I will slowly add all of the mentioned places in groups of two to four.

Translations:

In fretta, vieni a vedere!: Soon, come and see! (Italian)

Sono tornati! Sono tornati!: They're back! They're back! (Italian)

Bon voyage: save journey/Godspeed (French)

* * *

**Notes:**

Annabeth: A small town that has sprung up between the crossings of two minor roads. One road leads from the capital toward the north-west to the south-eastern towns. The other is a road that runs from an eastern seaport city to the central cities. Both roads are little used these days in favour of faster roads, but many of the townsfolk are still from all over the country.

Rosebury: Francis's large home city. Located just west of the capital and known around the land for their marvellous food and wine. The heart of the city is atop a large hill, while the surrounding countryside is made of rolling hills covered with vineyards and farms. The rich often take vacations here, and many own their own estates or vineyards. There are three royal estates scattered around and in Rosebury.

Lethion: This city is located in the Central Eastern lands. Its people are generally made of writers, knights, and farmers of the nearby countryside. However, to the south of the city, there are many herders who roam the moorlands. The city is known for its generally rainy weather and the banks of mist that settle in the surrounding lands. A well-known gang of pirates are thought to have originated from the town and its costal farmlands. The origins of the Dragon's Boy are unknown, but he most resembles the people of Lethion. This city is also known for its import of Rosebury foods and wines because its citizens are usually very poor cooks.


	7. Chapter 6: A Contest of Blade and Skill

**A/N: **I, being the "smart" person I am, have started yet _another_ writing project (that would total up to four, not including random one-shots I get). Don't expect to see it any time soon (So far it's just one extremely long one-shot titled "I am HOPE"), but this means that I won't be writing a chapter a week any more. It's impossible at this point, so expect one every two weeks or so. (Hopefully it won't be that long between).

* * *

_Wir für unsere Überzeugungen zu kämpfen, e onorare la pace_

_We fight for our beliefs, and honour the peace_

* * *

**Chapter 6: A Contest of Blades and Skill**

"My name is Arthur you bloody git!" The wild-haired mage quickly blocked the knight's straight forward attack with the flat of his blade.

Alfred moved back and swung low at Arthur's legs. In return the mage raised a booted leg to kick at Alfred's stomach in a quick attack and defence, causing Alfred to stumble back and miss the aimed target. His weak legs were starting to fail him already.

"Better be careful, or my sword might miss and cut that silly price of hair of yours that refuses to stay down!" Arthur ran the short distance toward Alfred and swung, but the longer sword knocked away the blade from its intended target; Alfred's sword arm.

"Oh yeah, Caterpillar? How 'bout I give those massive eyebrows of yours a shave?" At this, the crowd cheered once again. There was neighing, and an owl's call, and even the howl of a wolf among the spectators' yelling.

Without even taking a breath's break in stride, Arthur suddenly launched in a fluid motion. He darted in and aimed at his opponent's chest. Alfred ducked, but the previously mentioned piece of hair was not spared. With a practiced flick of the wrist, the tuft flew up into the air where Arthur caught it with his free hand and smirked.

"What did I say? Oh, and its _Arthur_. You best not forget the name of the man who beat your sorry arse." The forest crowd yelled once again, cheering on their Dragon's Boy and the cocky knight.

Lukas leaned over to Mathias and placed a bet to add to the one that Emil had already made. "Cooking duty for the next two weeks says that the Dragon's Boy will be the victor, not to mention that string of various gems you keep in your shoe for good luck." Mathias hesitated, but nodded in agreement, "Then I get the silver wire wrist band with the vine design that you're so attached to."

The knight made an attack at Arthur's side—which was hastily blocked—and then he made a quick swing towards the other's shoulder directly after. He used the long blade of his broadsword to his advantage; reaching in, but staying out of the short sword's range. Arthur dropped and did a leaping-like somersaulted around behind Alfred to hit the back of his knees with the flat of the short sword's double-edged blade, driving him to the ground.

Alfred didn't fall entirely however, he used the momentum to roll forward and gain some distance from Arthur.

"What?" Did a new fleck of hair grow in place of the old one already? The knight didn't even seem to be breathing hard yet at all, though his legs were obviously feeling abused from the sudden rush of action.

"No way, I bet an entire keg of the finest ale we got that the knight will knock the Dragon's Boy on his back!" Spoke the tallest elf from the side-lines.

"I wouldn't be too sure." retorted Lukas. "He's more than a bit weak at this point."

Emil sighed. "The bets just keep piling up, don't they?"

Now it was Alfred's turn to smirk as he charged at the mage, who was caught off guard. He stumbled, and the overconfident knight wasted no time in knocking the blade out of his hand.

It twisted mid-air, the metal gleaming in a ray of sun that peeked through the canopy, and stuck in the ground barely out of reach. Arthur dashed backwards, keeping an eye on Alfred, and retrieved his sword, just in time to block an attack at his hip. It was a sloppy par though, and to counter it the mage dropped down in a crouch once more, and kicked out a leg to trip up his opponent. The knight fumbled backwards to avoid being knocked down. Arthur delivered a blow to his opponent's shoulder—making sure that the sword connected with the flat of the blade instead of the edge. Both swords were dulled, but their wielders weren't aiming to kill.

Alfred was only able to avoid the hit to his shoulder, but the sword slammed into the side of his arm, causing him to lose his grasp on the broadsword. It dropped and before the knight could pick it up again, Arthur turned and gave a roundhouse kick to his opponent's chest. Alfred fell on his back with a loud _thump_ and stayed down.

Mathias handed Lukas a long string of glinting bright gems without even looking his direction; his eyes were trained on the fighters ahead of them.

The clang of metal resounded in the air as Alfred had seized his weapon and crossed swords with the mage standing over him. The crowd went crazy, calling out things like " Come on, you got him!" or even "Finish it!"

Alfred popped up and the two faced off with a series of attacks no one quite saw completely, save the blur of metal and the clashing sounds of two swords meeting each other in a par. They swung and blocked and ducked so quickly one might think the two were really after each other's blood.

All of a sudden, Alfred and Arthur were both up and each had swords at the other's neck. The greenest, most radiant emerald eyes gazed—or more as glared daggers—into deep cerulean orbs. They stared each other down for a silent moment before a drop of blood ran down the knight's cheek, revealing a barely noticeable thin scratch of blood on his cheek. Soon a small tear-like red trail ran down the side of the knight's face. Arthur's sword must have sliced it during their exchange of viper fast assaults.

The pair soon started to slowly circle clockwise, neither willing to make the first move, or lower his guard. For now the match was at a stalemate.

Arthur knew it was only a matter of time before his opponent would get reckless and attack him. He could be patient and wait until then. True to the mage's prediction, it was not two minutes later when Alfred raised his sword and swung it around in a fast sweep to clash with Arthur's own weapon in a block.

Neither of them were willing to make the next move once again, and the fight turned into a contest of power; blade against blade. The first one to waver or lower would give the other the upper hand. Soon sky-blue meet forest-emerald and eyes were locked in a glaring contest. The crowd quieted and voices hushed.

It was green eyes that lowered first; glancing downward and then up through lashes until his glare might just burn a hole in the other's head. Azure orbs hardened and with a last shove of power, the short sword was brought down by the bigger blade.

Arthur didn't give Alfred a chance to recover after mustering his strength. No sooner had his blade slide down, the mage lashed out with rapid speed that the knight found comparable to one of the southern snakes with wide hooded necks that a traveller had once told him about.

Alfred tried to back up out of range of the quick darting cuts, but Arthur closed the gap with his own strides. Not all of the attacks were blocked in time, and when his challenger finally danced back out of range, Alfred had more than just the one scratch on his cheek. The Caterpillar was starting to breathe just slightly through his mouth, which meant he'd probably not attack again, plus he seemed to fight with a style that preferred to wait for Alfred to make the first move. This gave the knight time to do a wound inventory.

A slice into his upper arm—nothing too concerning, and some minor slices through his shirt and it felt like there was a small scrap on his shoulder from a close blow. Nothing bad, but Arthur was still unharmed.

Well, time for Alfred to change that.

Remembering everything that his knight master had told him, Alfred slowed his breathing and hardened his eyes. He had to make sure not to give himself away. A deep breath, pause, and…

…Alfred moved in, faking to Arthur's right shoulder and making a slash across his waist. Blade met skin and Arthur was backed up almost to the edge of the clearing. The entire forest seemed to be holding its breath and everything methodically slowed but sped up at the same time.

The knight was a blur of movements as he executed first a quick par and then two mirrored swipes to Arthur's knees. His vision seemed to slow and everything was responded to with just the flicker of a thought and imbedded memories of training.

Alfred wasn't the only one who was dealing blows however. Arthur was just as fast, if not the slightest bit quicker. Where his opponent was all strength and wide, powerful blows; the mage was fluid and every par, attack, or block seemed like a type of ballet. The two were ducking and weaving in evasions that made the duel appear more as a well-practiced dance.

One of them was starting to slow though. Alfred couldn't keep up without breaks and using tired, sore muscles that had been relaxed for far too long. Everything was getting heavy; his sword, the worn shoes on his feet, and even his limbs seemed to weigh too much. Constant powerful moves slowly turned to the every now and then gab. Sudden drops and high jumps changed into barely backing up out of range.

Arthur smiled. He had him. It wasn't long now before that broadsword was out of Alfred's hands. The wary blond didn't seem to know when to quit though, and despite the now ragged breaths, he was still fighting hard.

Neither of them had spoken in a long time, but that was hardly any matter as Arthur caught the other blade in a cross. Using the flick of his wrist, the mage quickly twirled his short sword so that it seemed to grab hold of the other and fling it out of Alfred's grip.

Everything paused.

Alfred just stared as the spectators looked on with wide eyes.

The mage sneered and thicken his accent to a Lethion poor man's slur, "I win, poppet."

Arthur lowered his swords as a surprised Alfred came to terms with his loss, and what that would mean for him; stripped of his title as "knight" and gaining the unwanted label of "forest dweller" instead. The gathering of creatures and people exploded into applause. There were happy shouts of "Dragon's Boy! Dragon's Boy! Arthur won! Dragon's Boy!" and shocked stutters of, "What? …What happened?!"

Needless to say, Mathias would be out of valuables and serving the rest of the elves for the next two weeks.

* * *

One of the sprites—Alfred thought he'd heard Arthur call the guy Raivis or something—came over and started to help up the stunned knight. Short Eduard soon joined him and asked if Alfred felt ok.

"Yea, they're just some scratches. Nothing too big…" He'd still lost though; lost to some weird guy who lived in a forest, a magical forest. He'd lost a sword fight against some _mage_ dude!

Said "mage dude" was being congratulated, and he simply nodded to the praise, trying to get his friends to stop complimenting him. He glanced over at Alfred and smirked. The knight really did look defeated. The git finally got put in his place. What to do with him now though? It wasn't like Arthur could just let Alfred out of his cave now. A prisoner could hardly be trusted to stay in the prison if the door wasn't locked. In this case, if the exit wasn't criss-crossed with wards that would prevent Alfred from leaving without Arthur's allowance. Speaking of the prisoner's cave, Alfred would probably demand that he was not forced to stay in the dark cell. Where would they put him? It wasn't like there were just rooms open. The only guests that ever came around were the elves.

Arthur was brought out of his thoughts when Alfred walked over to speak with him. The knight was oddly sad looking, but when he started talking he went back to the way-too-happy smile of before, if not a little less enthusiastic. "Dude, that wasn't far! My legs are all weak and stuff! One of these day's we'll fight again, and I'll bet you. Then I can finally leave and go back home."

The mage felt a little bad about keeping Alfred against his will, but he couldn't just let the twat go. He already knew way too much for that. "Yes well, you didn't back down, so you accepted that you were weak and fought anyway. It's not my fault you can't take a hit to your knightly pride."

"Would you have backed out?"

"I never said I wouldn't!"

"Protecting your little…mage…ly pride!"

"Magely isn't a word you git!"

"Caterpillar!"

"Prat!"

A new voice started talking before Alfred could even think of what to say. "Will you both just _shut up_?" it was almost as loud as the annoying knight, and mad. It sounded pretty mad.

Arthur shut his mouth and Alfred looked around for who had spoken.

"Down here show-off!" Two blue eyes finally found the source of the yelling. A cat. A _cat_ wearing …some weird mask?

"Dude….I think that cat just talked to us."

"Yea, I did! Problem with that?!" The cat had short, shaggy dark brown fur and it was indeed wearing a white mask that covered its eyes. There was another cat next to him, but it was somehow sleeping through the other's loud voice.

Alfred turned to the messy haired mage standing next to him. Stupid "Dragon's Boy" wasn't fazed in the least when he bent down closer to the cat's level and sighed.

"Sadiq," Arthur addressed the animal, "I thank you for stopping us from fighting, but try to be a tad kinder to him."

Wait…was Arthur sticking up for Alfred?

"His small brain takes a while to process things."

Nope.

Alfred, of course, spoke up to his defence. He wasn't about to just be insulted by this stupid Caterpillar! "Hey! Dude, how would you be if you grew up in a city of people who all hate anything remotely 'witch' or 'magical' and then dumped into a forest crack full of them?!"

Arthur wanted to yell back, but he barely restrained himself and kept a level head. "I have a bloody name, and it isn't 'Dude' or 'Caterpillar', its _Arthur_."

"But Arthur is such a boring name." Alfred was already moving on to a new topic of conversation before the other could prolong the argument, "So do all of the animals here talk? How does that work?"

Sadiq answered first, "How dumb can you be! Everything can talk you idiot, you just don't understand them! That includes cats!"

The other, much shaggier and laid back cat, had finally woken. It yawned and looked up at the knight with tired eyes, "Hello…."

Alfred was too busy defending himself to notice, and it wasn't long before the sleepy cat got bored and closed its eyes again for another long nap.

Meanwhile, a mage, a knight, and a very angry cat were having what appeared to be a shouting war. No one was really winning, but all three wanted to get their point across to the other two who were refusing to listen. This created quite the cycle of yelling and arguing that probably wouldn't end soon unless if a fourth party stepped in.

After some time, a fourth person did, in fact, step in and break them up. Well, a fourth creature. And they didn't "step in" so much as "swoop in". A great horned owl flew down between Alfred and Arthur's heads and landed in front of Sadiq.

"I am tired of hearing you three barking. I'm trying to rehearse with robins, and I don't need the background chatter!" The voice was a superior aristocratic one. Alfred then presumed that the larger portion of these stupid forest dwellers needed to learn how to relax and have fun every once and a while. They were all so high strung, no wonder Arthur was snooty.

The mage sighed and held up a hand in apology, rubbing his temple with the other, "So sorry Roderich. We'll try to keep it down for you." The owl that Alfred now knew to be called Roderich—even his name made him sound like some noble guy from the capital—glared at the two cats before taking off again.

Sadiq must have decided he'd had enough, because he boxed his friend's ears and yelled at him to 'get up now or be left behind'. The two felines left and it was just Arthur and Alfred. The latter waited for his green-eyed companion to collect his belongings before asking, "So, now that I'm one of your strange 'forest buddies', do I get my own room…cave…place?"

Arthur rolled his eyes before sighing yet again, "Yes, you do. I can't be bothered to set up the wards for the prisoner's cave after I spent the time of breaking them down."

Alfred decided that the somewhat nice answer gave him leeway to keep asking questions. The annoyed mage tried his best not to get to angry, and replied to all of them with few insults or eye rolls.

"So do I get my stuff back?"

"No."

"What about Tony? Where is he?"

"I'm sure he's a fast horse, but probably in Kat and Nat's stomachs at this point."

"Not cool! Why do you have to be so mean all the time!?"

"Because, if I wasn't where would I be? I'm hardly being mean to you in the first place; you're just being incredibly stupid and rude."

"What do you guys do for fun around here? I'm gonna die from boredom!"

"'Going to' not 'gonna' you git, and I highly doubt that even you are capable of such a feat."

There was a pause in the conversation as both of them looked around. The blue-eyed man looking for something that would fill his short attention span and green eyes that matched the trees' were searching for anything that would be considered abnormal as he let his thoughts wonder farther than the branches.

"Hey, Caterpillar dude?"

Arthur bit back a stinging retort. "_What now?_" it was almost a growl, but Alfred was forever incapable of reading the mood and kept talking.

"Could you…maybe show me some of those moves you used sometime?"

Was….it couldn't be…Alfred was asking _Arthur_ to basically give him sword lessons. Right after he had just outdone the knight in a duel no less. This was something that deserved to be recorded. Arthur's thoughts were sarcastic and therefore his reply was the same.

"_Sure, w_hy not?" The forest born said.

Suddenly there was an arm around his shoulder, shaking him so roughly he feared for his quiver and the bag that were starting to slip down his arm. "Get off of me!" He shoved the now laughing knight and brought his head down between his shoulders. Arthur was scowling at Alfred with eyes that could be mistaken as pointy green daggers.

"Oh, come on Caterpillar! It's not like I hugged you or something!" He was still laughing.

Arthur continued to glare as he said, "Yes. At least you didn't because you would have been dead by now if you had."

They continued to exchange gabs and shoves as they walked back to the caves.

* * *

Feliks as a unicorn looked up at a red-tailed hawk sitting on the branch above him. He smiled and looked back at the two humans walking loudly down the path from a clearing.

"Hey, like, Elizabeta?"

"What is it, Feliks?" The hawk replied, not taking her sharp, bird-of-prey eyes from the pair.

"They're totally going to be like, realllly good friends one of these days." The unicorn tossed his mane and pranced in place.

"Oh there is no doubt about that," if hawks could smile, this one would have, "If we're lucky, they'll most definitely be _very_ good friends."

* * *

**A/N:** More character introductions! (They. Just. Keep. Coming.) Four I believe… Please tell me if I missed someone in that count.

Names:

Sadiq: Turkey

Unnamed sleepy cat: Greece

And then you should know who Roderich and Elizabeta are.

* * *

**Notes:**

Celarance: A city in the south that Feliciano and Lovino stayed at when they left Annabeth for schooling. The southern edge of the city has expanded over the northern tip of Lake Veciene. Most of the buildings are tall and have been painted in bright colours. Many painters roam the streets and enjoy the festival like atmosphere. Citizens of Celarance are generally laid back and do not stress over many things. The city is known for its pasta and romantic appearance.

Naluginni: This small city, or some would say, large town, sits on the southern shores of Lake Veciene. Unlike the northern metropolis that rests on the beaches, Naluginni is recognized for being a generally cold and rude town. While the people of Celarance tend to be well off and fairly educated, the citizens of this southern town are usually poorer. It is well known that many of the organized crimes that occur in Celarance are committed by people that live among this city's streets.

Cladeian: A south-eastern town that is the first town meet when travelling from Annabeth past/through the Mysticum Silva. It is mostly made of farmers and the few townsfolk that would be needed to supply it with necessary things like saddles, carts, clothes, etc.

Lake Veciene:A lake to the south of Celarance. Part of the city has been built over its shallow waters and instead of horses and carriages, boats float between the colourful buildings. Along its southernmost shores lies Naluginni.


	8. Chapter 7: Midnight Meadow Meetings

**A/N: **Long time no see! Or...read. Ok, so I've been busy, and I'm getting really excited about the new writing project I'm working on, but I would just like to state that there is absolutely no way I'll ever quit writing for this story. Ever. I'm dead serious. I hate it when authors abandon a story (though, there are good reasons for doing so sometimes), and I already have big plans for this one. The Dragon's Boy universe has become a lot bigger than just Mysticum Silva and Annabeth. There are so many places, and tons of stories (all involving the countries!) that I've created. Hopefully, I will be able to get the chance to share them all (or at least most of them), but for now, here is the next chapter for The Dragon's Boy. Sorry for the long wait!

* * *

_Wir für unsere Überzeugungen zu kämpfen, e onorare la pace_

_We fight for our beliefs, and honour the peace_

* * *

**Chapter 7: Midnight Meadow Meetings**

Alfred edged his way along the edge of the shadows cast by the fire that was starting to turn into glowing coals. Get past here and he would be free. He just had to get from one side of the cave to the other without waking Lukas, Emil, Tino, Berwald, or alerting a drunken Mathias who was "standing guard".

After being beaten that day in the duel against the stupid caterpillar, Al was planning on getting out of there before they could keep him here for good. If anything, he missed the cities and towns and just… normal _people_! Everyone here was either some strange talking forest animal or had weird pointy ears and it was driving him up the wall! It'd been all cool at first, but he wanted to be a knight not some forest hermit.

He continued to edge along in the darkest patches along the wall. Mathias was the only one up now, but he couldn't risk being caught by the elf. That would be extremely un-heroic of him. It didn't take long to reach the entrance, and from there Alfred was able to dart outside and into the black night. The moon was covered by a thick blanket of clouds that had come in during the late afternoon.

It would have been a lot better if the knight could have found Tony before now, but the horse was nowhere to be found, and he needed to slip out while he had the chance. As he walked he wondered how everyone would react to his disappearance come morning.

Tino would be sad that he'd left, and Berwald would be as silent and creepy as usual. Feliks would probably start going off on some long speech to that poor short guy that was always hanging out with him. Alfred didn't know what Emil and Lukas would do; probably just go "Thought so" and not care two cents after that. Who knew what the animals would do. Arthur would be pissed off and start yelling about how he "should have bloody known!" or some such thing. Maybe he would go after him. The knight shivered at the idea of having a forest full of animals out to get him. That was sure a scary thought.

A bird twittered in a branch above the runaway's head and he jumped. Did it know? Was it going to fly back to Arthur and tell him that his prisoner had escaped?

There was a rustle as something moved through the bushes and Alfred scrambled away, starting to jog, and then run. Soon the run was a full out sprint. It felt like the woods were alive with things that were desperate to kill him and drag the carcass back to the caves.

He could just imagine it. A stupid, cocky noble's son that no one wanted around is killed by some deer after revenge. Why did his stomach have to tell him to go hunting?! Alfred was sure he'd never listen to it again, the traitor!

Look at him; yelling at himself. Stupid forest… stupid mage going around and knocking out anyone who sets foot under the trees.

During his mad dash and crazy mental ramble, the escapee hadn't realized that he'd stumbled his way up close to the northern border, definitely not where he wanted to be since Annabeth and the other towns were _south_ of Mysticum Silva.

Soon he realized that he could see the white reflection of moonlight through the trees up ahead. That meant that the forest was thinning out, and that he was coming to the edge of it already! It didn't feel like he'd been running for that long—after all it had taken over three days on horse to get a good distance into the large woods—but who knew. Maybe those caves were closer to the border than he'd originally thought.

As Alfred came to the last trees, he realized that it wasn't the boundary of the forest, but a giant meadow that he'd found. The knight stopped to regain his breath and scan the open ground.

Everything was aglow with the cold night's moon; which had found the strength to peer out from the clouds for a while. The flowers were all different shades and colours, but the moon washed them all white and ice blue. The grass was bleached, and the trickling of the stream put down a steady beat for the cricket music. A wind bit through the night, chilling the air and whipping the long grass until it bent double.

Only after his azure eyes had glanced across the open ground did Alfred realize something very important.

He was not the only one in the meadow.

There was someone standing in the middle of the field. She—Alfred could tell it was a girl now that he was looking—held a giant flower in her hand. He couldn't tell what the flower actually was in the dim light, but it had to be something like a sunflower, because that thing was _huge._ The girl's hair was long, and pale. The light of the fading moon was almost making it hurt to look at her. Part of her hair stuck up, making it look like she had two animal ears on either side of her head.

She was wearing one of those old fashion maid dresses and something glinted at her belt. Alfred realized that the glint was from a blade. She was carrying knives and a lot of them. They practically made a belt themselves, flashing when the wind flew through the meadow and picked up her skirts.

Even though he couldn't see her face Alfred though there was something depressing about the girl in the field of flowers. She tilted her head back and…

…wait a second. What? …What? She was…_howling_!

Alfred stumbled backwards and started to get the hell out of there when the noise was cut off. He looked up and she was staring straight at him. The knight's eyes widened and he continued to blindly find his way into the woods without turning from the wolf-lady. Yea, _wolf_-lady all right; those were definitely ears, and she was growling, and he could see a tail now, and why did everything in this forest have to be so creepy and twisted and after his guts?!

It didn't take long before the wolf-person caught up with Alfred. She had a knife at his throat in seconds and his back was shoved roughly against a tree. Was there a reason she had to practically drive splinters into his shoulder blades?

"Uh…S-sorry for interrupting you! ...I was just leaving, so if you could kindly," the knight gulped nervously, "put me down unharmed that would be really really _great_…heh…heh..."

There wasn't a noise or word from his captor. Her ears twitched though, and she lifted her head to look up in the tree above them. Alfred slowly followed her gaze to find the same great-horned owl from earlier perched among the leaves. What was his name? Rod-something.

The large bird didn't say anything either. He just took off into the night with a hoot and a flap of quiet wings. It dawned on the captured runaway that he'd probably been spied on from the very beginning. Arthur was just the type of guy that would set something up like this.

After a while Al could tell that they weren't alone—it wasn't as if he had been from the start. Behind the wolf-lady he could have sworn he saw another girl like the one that held the cold blade under his chin. Her eyes were two white orbs; they reflected the little light there was under the canopy of trees. Alfred wondered if they were the same two wolves that had attacked him when he'd first come to the forest.

An image of them chasing Tony through these trees made the knight gulp again.

It didn't take long before the sound of hooves thundering through the undergrowth carried on the breeze. Not two minutes later Roderich flew through the tree trunks with Feliks following behind. When the three came within sight of the wolf-lady and her captive, Arthur jumped from the unicorn's back. He smirked and sauntered over, shaking his head and making a '_tsk tsk'_ at the nervous blonde.

"Look what the wolf dragged in," he joked, "You thought I would just let you walk out without having someone tracking you?"

The knight faked a smile, "Ok, you got me. Can you please tell your furry friend here to drop the knife?" His voice was still shaky despite his attempt at sounding casual.

Arthur raised a hand and gestured for the knife to be removed from its spot against Alfred's neck, "Natalia, you can release him now. He isn't going anywhere."

Natalia, as she'd been called, complied and stepped away from the newly recaptured prisoner to stand next to the other wolf-person—who had come to watch from the side of the tree. She still wasn't saying anything and Alfred was starting to wonder if this Natalia was the only creature in this creepy forest that didn't speak Common.

The defeated knight began to breathe heavily in frustration. "You ass!"

Arthur raised a single bushy brow in response.

"Alright then, Caterpillar, I challenge you to another duel!" Alfred wouldn't give up trying to escape; he had to finish his quest! Crazy forest be damned!

"Are you forgetting who knocked you to the ground last time? Besides, you're too weak to put up a decent fight and I can't have you wasting my time with petty little grudges." The mage turned around and crossed his arms. He was getting to the end of his patience for this stupid city-man. Alfred began to walk toward the frustrated forest born, but a flick of the wrist by his green eyed captor sent him up against the tree again. The impact sent the weak-legged prisoner to his knees.

"See, you can't even stand up properly." Arthur still had not turned around when he said with a slight nod, "Kat. Now, please."

A blow to the head from behind delivered by the blonde wolf woman standing next to Natalia knocked the young knight out cold. Alfred flopped to the ground with a thud at her feet.

The mage waved a hand to dismiss the wolf sisters, who then shifted into their four-legged forms and ran off into the dark woods.

After the forest animals disappeared—the sprites picked up the knocked out prisoner and put him on the back of Feliks as they left—Arthur sighed and turned around to face the spectator who had gone unnoticed the entire time. "Kiku, what am I going to do with this bloody moron?"

The mage seemed to be talking to a shadow, but a short yet graceful figure stepped into the moonlight from the inky black. A cool breeze ran from the meadow ruffling his strait black hair and seemingly spotless robes.

"You have several options, Child of the Dragon, primarily; trust him. His eyes are the same as that of the sword." His voice was quiet, but demanded to be respected.

At this, Arthur's face seemed to twitch in a disagreeable manner. He didn't care if the bloody git was the wielder of the other sword or not. He needed to belt up and accept that he was stuck here before anything could be done and that would never happen.

Kiku quickly continued, "However, you also have the option of having him visit me for a day or two, while you sort this situation out." The older man's companion ran a hand through his messy honey-blonde hair but said nothing for a moment.

A pair of brown orbs looked up into his eyes in the dark and Arthur sighed. "I will hand him off to you to deal with. In the meantime…" He looked out to the south through the forest. Before continuing, there was a pause in his sentence, "Elizabeta says she spotted more of them heading toward the dragon's cave. I have to get there before they do."

"How many?" Kiku didn't bother giving advice and simply cut to the point.

There was another sigh, "Ten knights and three dogs."

Both of them were quiet as they started to walk back to the cave through the midnight black undergrowth. Arthur was the first to speak again, "That's more than last time. Soon there will be too many for me to deal with. If you're going to try and get him to see things our way, I suggest you do it as quick as you can. We're running out of time."

"I will do my best to change his mind."

Arthur gave the wise man a small bow. "Thank you Kiku."

"Of course, Dragon's Boy," the shorter man smiled and returned the bow.

* * *

That night Alfred was dragged back to the prisoner's cave. His arms and legs were tied once more, but the wards weren't put up. It would have been hardly worth the hassle, seeing as the knight was knocked out and the second Alfred woke, Arthur dragged him out on a hike. The two of them set out to Kiku's home in the forest; after breakfast of course. Alfred wouldn't be moved before he had been fed.

After rounds of whining and curious questions about where they were headed, the mage gave in and told the insufferable git that Alfred would be staying with a friend for a while. The knight—having no clue what reaction his words could cause—asked if they were marching off to the dragon's cave to "give him a snack".

This comment was received with a scowl and reply of, "Shut up, wanker!" before Arthur swung out with the end of his bow, thumping the other blonde's head with it.

Alfred had noticed before, but now it was even more obvious; the mage claimed to have been raised by the dragon—the thought of that still seemed completely unbelievable to the knight—but he talked and acted like someone from Lethion. Alfred had only been to the foggy city once and he would very happily never go back. The buildings were all thin and tall; peering over the streets like giants. The only decent food was transported in from Rosebury and cost a fortune. He could picture Arthur walking down Lethion's rainy streets in one of those black "top hats" that the city was famous for.

The rest of the journey pasted by quickly; both parties staying quiet for the majority of their trip besides the occasional bicker back and forth. They arrived at a small hut, Alfred complaining about the growing bump on the back of his head from being hit with Arthur's bow. Usually being smacked with a bow wouldn't be so painful, but it didn't take a professor to know that there had been magic behind the blow.

The hut was round, and on first glance it only appeared to be a large wall of tangled undergrowth. The walls were covered in so many plants that neither the mage nor the knight could tell what it was made of as they came to it.

"Hey Caterpillar, shouldn't there be a door or something?" Alfred asked with confusion. His query was rewarded with another smack on his head; this time from Arthur's hand.

"Quit calling me that, you git!"

The prisoner gave an annoying whine and adopted that kicked puppy look. His travelling companion had learned though, and only answered with the answer to Alfred's previous question, "There is magic over the entrance. You can only see it if you want to," he raised an arm and pointed to a particularly tangled patch of ivy on the hut's side, "Concentrate on that one patch and you'll notice it."

Blue eyes narrowed and Al tried to keep all of this attention on that one spot. Eventually he had to blink though, but when he did, instead of seeing more of those dull green leaves, there was a door. It was so obvious! How had he not seen it there before?

Arthur bit back a smile at Alfred's amazement. The knight was as easily entertained by something as simple as hiding a door. "We don't have all day you know. Are you going to open the door or not?"

A couple more blinks and the prisoner turned to look at Arthur, "I thought you'd enter first."

The scruffy haired man rolled his eyes and walked forward to the hut's entrance, "Fine, if you're so scared to enter an old man's home, then I'll go first." His comment was received with a cry of protest that faded away after they entered the small shelter.

Actually, it wasn't all that small. What had appeared to be a simple little round dwelling on the outside was a large, spacious, high-ceilinged room on the inside.

"Hey, Caterpillar…" Alfred said; his voice full of shock and surprise as he looked around.

This time, Arthur couldn't help but smirk and replied, "Is there something wrong, fair knight?"

"Dude…it's bigger on the inside!" That insufferable little piece of hair bobbed as Alfred waved his arms about to indicate the sudden space.

Before his companion could give another sarcasm filled retort, a gasp came from their left and the door behind them was closed with a bang.

"Who is that strange person, aru?!" The individual that walked up to them had a black ponytail over one shoulder and was wearing a shirt with long red sleeves.

A voice behind them answered before either of the travellers could protest otherwise, "Aniki, I think he's Arthur's prisoner, da-ze!"

Alfred yelped as someone came from behind him and hugged his chest, "You are mine now, da-ze!" Arthur sighed and mumbled something about Kiku's crazy assistants.

The man—Alfred thought he was a lady for a second—snapped at the person behind the knight, "Yong Soo! Release him before Kiku comes back, aru! You'll get into big trouble!"

A young man came from behind the two. The most noticeable thing about his was not the oversized white and blue robes he wore, but that from his short black hair stuck out a long curl that bobbed when he moved. Every now and then it even looked like the strand of hair had a face. The teen was rarely still however. He now ran over to the long-haired man and stood behind him, putting his arms over the other's shoulders to cover his chest. "Haha! You'll always be mine, da-ze! Isn't that right, aniki?"

The man sighed and removed his younger's arms. "Get off, aru!"

Arthur simply waited for Kiku to arrive. Alfred however, stayed wary of the much louder and wilder of the two in case if he attempted to hug him again. Was there no sane person in this damn forest?

Soon both the person in the red shirt and the teen started arguing to each other in their home languages. They reminded the knight of people that he'd met from Ya-Zin—though he'd never personally been to the huge marshland city.

When Arthur didn't do anything to stop their shouting match, Alfred leaned over to make a comment, "Caterpillar, aren't you going to do something? That long-haired guy looks like he's about ready to punch the other one…"

The mage shook his head and replied quietly, "Its better if we just wait them out. Kiku's the only one that can ever get them to be quiet for any length of time," The man with the long curl made a grab at his companion's shirt, but the other stepped just out of reach, "and even he has a hard time doing it. Isn't that right Kiku?"

A short man with black hair standing next to Arthur answered, "Unfortunately," he cleared his throat and spoke louder, "That is enough now Yong Soo. Stop bothering Yao; you both have jobs to do."

Alfred had to go back and look at the new addition to the group a second time before he believed that he was really there. The knight looked back to the door, and then to the wise man again. When had he come in? It almost seemed like Kiku had appeared out of thin air!

The corner of Arthur's mouth twitched up in a small grin. He remembered back when he had been a little kid, living in Kiku's hut. It had always felt like the short man could pop up out of nowhere, but after a while the young mage had gotten used to his mentor's sudden appearances.

Yong Soo and Yao quickly shuffled back to doing chores and work around the hut. Kiku walked forward and turned to look at Alfred, who felt like the man was deciding his fate or something with the blank look he was getting.

"_Hai_…I think you'll be exactly what I'm looking for, if you'll take it…" Kiku trailed off before turning to Arthur and bowing, "Thank you for bringing him here, Child of the Dragon. I will put him to good use, don't worry."

The much younger mage bowed in response. Before he turned and left, the other blonde started speaking, "Wait! You're just leaving me here?!"

"Indeed."

"Are you coming back for me any time soon? Am I free to go?"

"In reply to your first question, probably. For the second, of course not! Kiku is a powerful mage, and both Yao and Yong Soo are adapted in magic. You won't be leaving this hut unless if one of them wishes for it to happen, and certainly without being followed."

"What do you mean 'probably'?" the _still_ a prisoner complained.

The Caterpillar ignored him and walked out of the door, "Goodbye, Kiku."

"_Say__ōnara_, Child of the Dragon."

Alfred was starting to really regret ever entering Mysticum Silva.

* * *

**A/N: **It seems that I'm always ending a chapter with someone saying goodbye... Anyway, I'll keep this A/N short because the top one was long, and I have a lot of notes that I want to fit in this chapter.

Translations:

_Say__ōnara_: Goodbye [usually used when you won't see that person for a long time] (Japanese)

* * *

**Notes:**

Southern Desert: The southern desert is home of a surprising number of cities that have been built at large oases that appear in the sands. This desert has a year around summer, and gets very little rain. The water supplies for the cities come from the springs.

The Coastal Islands: Three small islands off the north-western coast. Cold, and bare, but inhabited none the less.

Ya-Zin: The largest and oldest known city of the land, Ya-Zin, is located along the Eastern shores. Because the city is near the shores, and the east is known for marsh-like ground and foggy coastline, all of the buildings have been built on stilts with wood-and-rope bridges spanning from one to another. Every structure is multi-story to accommodate for the still growing number of citizens; because of this many of the walls are made from paper, and there is very little furniture in each room. Originally this city was its own empire, but when the last emperor died and there was no successor, it came under the control of the Capital. The Ya-Zin Empire had one condition to this arrangement however; they are allowed to have their own army. Over the years the city has grown so large that it is separated into districts. There are a few small districts that are still popping up throughout the city, but there are four main ones.

-Ya-Shang: This is the head district of Ya-Zin. When there was still the Ya-Zin Empire, the city was called Ya-Shang. After the empire's collapse, the districts were formed and to honour the empire, the city was renamed Ya-Zin. The oldest part of the city was then named the Ya-Shang district. Many inventions have come from this district including paper and silk (the city's biggest exports along with rice).

-Ya-Niao: Originally this district was its own town, but eventually the main city reached the edges of the town, and that part of Ya-Zin is still called Ya-Niao. This district is known for being carefree and hosting many parties, but it also is very guarded and secure.

-Ya-Taig: After becoming a large city, Ya-Taig revolted against the Ya-Zin Empire and created a wall around its borders. After winning, the city and surrounding area was renamed Nihon and it became completely independent and isolated. By then the main city directly lined the edge of Nihon with the Junkaido (Jun-KEE-doo) River separating the two. Ya-Zin soon took over Nihon after a chaotic war now called "The Two Empire War". When the Capital took control of Ya-Zin, it also came under the western power. The city became a district and was once again named Ya-Taig, though the walls have yet to be knocked down. Many citizens still consider themselves as people of Nihon and believe that the lost empire will rise again one day.

-Ya-Kyenn: This district started off as a sea port for ships headed to and from Lethion. The northern city has always owned the town (first called Kyenn), but recently Ya-Zin has claimed it as a district with no dispute from Lethion as long as their ships can still use it as a port. Though it has grown in size, Ya-Kyenn is still by far the smallest of the main districts.


	9. Chapter 8: From Teachings to Warnings

**A/N: **Hey everyone~ I would like to note that I'm almost finished with that other fanfic project of mine. After that I will be paying more attention to this one, and will go back to once a week updates (hopefully).

Also, sorry that this chapter is so short, but the ending was the perfect spot to cut off to another chapter, and I've been focusing on other things (*Cough*writingfanfics*Cough cough*). A little heads up that the next chapter will have a _lot_ of time jumps in it. This is because A) if I were to write everything out, we'd have five chapters of boring scenes, and B) I need for about a year to pass by before anything else can take place.

Btw, look forward to actual USUK in future chapters. Yep, we're finally getting there!

* * *

_Wir für unsere Überzeugungen zu kämpfen, e onorare la pace_

_We fight for our beliefs, and honour the peace_

* * *

**Chapter 8: From Teachings to Warnings**

"Alfred, you missed a stain on Yao's shirt."

"But I didn't see that there!"

The shirt in question was thrown back into the basket with a blank stare.

There was a sigh before the woven hamper was picked up again, "Fine… I'll do it _again_."

For the fourth time that day Alfred trudged back to the stream, bucket and soap in hand. Why did the so-called wise man think that a strong heroic knight had to do the wash every day? It had only been a week, but Alfred was ready to try and runaway again, magic and crazy forest creatures or not.

He came to the edge of the calm river and slid already wet legs into the knee high water, grumbling all the while. Sure he'd been taught how to do the laundry when he'd been an errands boy. That had been easy stuff; not being constantly told to go back and do it all over again.

"Stupid stains…" The knight scrubbed at the pesky dark smudge on Yao's shirt.

* * *

"Aiya! Alfred, you're going to burn the vegetables if you don't keep flipping them, aru!" Yao reprimanded while the blonde man tried to take a break from the repetitive movement of back-and-forth to keep their dinner from becoming too black.

Yong Soo walked past the pair carrying plates and bowls to be put on the table. "Aniki~ He's already burnt them. I think we should make him start over."

His elder scowled, "He hasn't and that would be a waste of perfectly good food, aru!"

The teenager was placing the dishes at each seat when he replied, "Maybe you should take over for him, Aniki. Kiku would be really mad if his dinner got burned."

Alfred was suddenly pushed out of the way as Yao took Yong Soo's advice. He expertly moved the large frying pan with fluid movements in an effort to save the vegetables, while blue eyes met brown and Yong Soo gave the prisoner a thumbs-up while he finished off his dinner time chores.

* * *

"So what exactly is the purpose of just walking around?"

Kiku let out a small sigh, "You have to become more aware of things around you, Alfred. How do you suppose Arthur fights so well under the trees and Feliks can race any horse through the undergrowth and win?"

Said knight looked up at the leaves overhead, "I don't know, magic?"

"One cannot simply look to the easiest answer in life lest it is one day taken away," the wise man said as they slowly walked.

Alfred watched a butterfly flitter by. "Ok, that makes sense, but why do _I_ need to know all of this stuff?" He asked.

To that, Kiku could not answer just yet.

* * *

"Ludwig! Ludwig! I got those nails that you wanted!" Feliciano beamed as he held out a handful of thin grey spikes.

A bigger hand covered in a work glove scooped up the nails and placed them in a pile on a log stump where Ludwig's other tools sat. "_Danke_, Feli," he smiled at his friend and picked up a nail to hammer into the wall his was currently building.

"Hey, Feli!" Gilbert called from the other side of the unfinished house, "Can you go tell Antonio to get over here and help us? Lovino can cook dinner on his own!"

Feliciano giggled and skipped back toward the hill where the majority of Annabeth's citizens still resided. "Sure thing, Gilbert," he turned to look back and saluted with his left hand, "_Arrivederci_, Ludwig!"

Neither of the two brothers bothered to correct their friend in his salute as he disappeared around one of the house's walls and up the hill behind. Both worked in quiet concentration for a while before the albino got up and walked over to where his brother worked. He leaned against the wall and spoke first.

"You know _bruder_, you and Feli seem pretty close," he ventured.

Ludwig continued working, but his eyebrows moved down above his eyes in a frown. "What do you mean? Of course we're close. We've known each other since we were kids."

Gilbert smirked, "_Ja_, but I've known him that long too, and we're not _that_ close."

The younger stopped his work and looked up sternly. "If you're implying what I think you're implying, than you know how dangerous such a thing is," he stopped and hammered at a nail with a bit more force than strictly necessary, "and how _disgusting_."

Red eyes closed as Gilbert shook his head. "Those are the king's words, not your own. He can't track you down way out here. Some of the other townspeople might be objective to it, but you've got Francis, Antonio, and my support."

Their conversation ended when Antonio finally appeared at the building site. Ludwig immediately took the distraction in stride and sent his brother and the gardener off to bring back some more wood for the walls.

* * *

Trails of a dark brown cloak fluttered soundlessly over fallen leaves and lead twigs. The hooded figure ghosted past trees through the night. A short-range bow was gripped in one hand, and two quivers were at his belt. What should have been a loud noise thump against black trousers when each arrow-holder hit the archer's legs was muffled and deep breath were silenced by magic.

Three sprites came into view, and they all smiled—if a bit nervously—at the addition to their party.

"We thought maybe you'd met some difficulties," one whispered.

"Y-you t-took quite a lon-ng time to get he-ere," another observed shakily.

Straw-coloured hair peeked out from under the dark hood when he shook his head. "I know, I know. I had to explain something to Ivan," his voice was just louder than the other two, ", but everything is still on schedule. Go in when you hear your signal and remember to avoid any of the action. We don't want trampled sprites."

There was a round of nodding before he continued.

"I have to go help the elves. We'll meet you on the return journey to the caves. If you get their first, wait until midday before going out and searching for us."

More nods, and the forest born man started off through the undergrowth once more. He let branches and plants blur past, and paying his surroundings no attention, yet still aware of anything that might be a human or elf running toward him.

Not long after meeting up with the sprites, the cloaked blonde spotted a looming shape standing close to a tree trunk. Another head of pale hair covered by a pointed green hat poked out from behind a neighbouring bush.

"Arthur," The second shouted in a whisper, "Over here."

The man slowed to a halt before the duo. "I said to wait up ahead," he sounded slightly out of breath and impatient.

The much taller person standing under the tree smiled, "Relax Arthur. Lukas sent me and Tino here to meet you here. He's made a slight change to where we'll be. Its thirty metres farther, and with the vision wards Berwald set up, he didn't want to risk anything."

It was the archer's turn to nod at the information presented, but he still added his own thoughts to the conversation, "Ok, but we need to hurry if we want to keep everything timed correctly."

Another quick jog brought the trio to their meeting place. Everyone wordlessly hurried to their positions. Arthur hunched down behind a large bush. He glanced to his left at Emil and whispered, "Make sure that the horses are calm once you let them go, we don't want them trying to find their way back to their masters under any circumstances."

The Nordic elf nodded and crawled away on silent hands and feet.

The cloaked mage cupped his hands around his mouth and lifted his head toward the sky. The howl of a wolf echoed off the trees and into the night for miles. He let the sound trail off before taking the bow from its place next to his feet and fitting an arrow in preparation.

In a different part of the forest, twelve men sat around a blazing fire. They had finished a supper of stew and most of them were already fast asleep. Two were still up on guard duty, and a third lay awake listening to the woods.

A faraway holler interrupted the peaceful forest calm. One of the guards raised his head from cleaning his blade and looked out into the black trees beyond the firelight.

"William, did you hear that?" he whispered, "Sounds like a wolf."

The other guard—presumably William—was leaning against a log and smirked, "Too far off to worry about. Probably found a deer's trail or something. Besides, a lone wolf isn't going to attack twelve knights and their steeds. Not with the dogs here."

It was only a couple minutes before the man that had asked the question asked another, "What if there's somethin' else out there? Tomith says this place's haunted."

William rolled his eyes and went back to whittling down a thick stick. His voice hinted at annoyance when he answered, "Tomith is a superstitious idiot, Charles. I swear you Lethion people and your myths…"

The man lying down threw in his own opinion to the mix as he tilted his hat down over his eyes, "You're both idiots. Now shut up and get back to guarding."

He was answered with a simultaneous, "Yes, sir." before the camp was quiet once more.

Large brown paws slowly edged toward the ring of light from the men's fire. Heavy breath moved the leaves of the plant in front of the creature as it sized up the guards sitting between it and its prey. Careful steps led the beast around the clearing until the horses stood to its left and the knights to its right.

There was a purposefully snapped twig and all three of the men were alert and ridged with hands on the nearest weapon. The large creature's ears twitched when the nervous one whispered to his closest companion.

"Remember what I said about wolves…"

The other was trying to stay calm, but he radiated just as much fear as the first, "More likely it was just a squi—"

The last—clearly the leader—almost hissed before interrupting, "Quiet. Both of you."

It waited just long enough for them to relax before surging forward in a long leap and roaring loud. All twelve were suddenly up and scrambling in fear and confusion.

"Bear! It's a grizzly! Get the horses!"

Said animals were already in panic. The knight's steeds plus the two pack mules were bucking and soon they were galloping off into the black trees.

"The leads were cut! Someone's cut the horse's ropes!"

Three of the seven dogs that had been taken on the trip were holding their ground while their littermates fled off into the night. However, they were no match for the giant bear who had no problem with rising up on his sturdy hind legs and swatting forward with both of his forepaws at the hounds.

Soon the horses were not the only members of the party that were running for their lives as the grizzly charged forward into the melee. Knights were brave, but they weren't stupid enough to think that they could go up against a huge mad bear looking for its dinner after being caught unaware by said bear. They could have either stayed and be mauled or run after the horses in an attempt to save the runaway supplies. Picking the latter was an obvious choice.

While the camp had been in an uproar of confusion, three short, quiet figures with long ears slipped unnoticed past the fleeing knights. Each took as many of the sleeping rolls, food packs, and weapons as they could carry before sneaking out of reach of the fire's light and off into the forest.

The knights were now not only without horses and dogs, but also the majority of their supplies and any weapons that had gone unattended. It would seem that their quest to slay the legendary dragon had been quite efficiently cut short.

* * *

Six cloaked figures—five tall and one shorter—smirked and laughed as they road back to their home in the caves on the fines knight's horses that the king could offer. The party could still hear cries of a mad chase when they met several sprites loaded down with food and weapons. The three new arrivals were quickly offered fine steeds to rest their legs, and a round of provisions from the packs for a job well done.

* * *

**A/N: **More character introductions! This will most likely be the last time we have any new characters until the sequel (It's so hard for me not to give anything/anyone away in these A/Ns). Once again, keeping this short because there are lots of Notes and the beginning one was long.

* * *

**Notes: **

Snø: A large town in the Northern Mountain Range. This town is one of five main mountain towns. It rests at the base of the range, on a high hill and is a last stop for any travellers that are headed into the cold mountains. The majority of the mountain towns are all very similar, but they all speak different languages and have a type of "specialty". Snø is well known for herding and northern animals and a large amount of wool is from Snø. This town also composed of horse breeders who produce steeds that are prepared for heavy loads and cold climates. A large amount of the townsfolk's diet comes from fish that swim in the mountain streams around the town.

Fisk: One of the Northern Mountain Range towns. This settlement catches the majority of the land's fresh water fish. The town itself is a lake island, but due to the constant cold weather, the lake is frozen solid for the greater part of the year. Fisk townsfolk often work as ice fishers—making holes through the ice and fishing from the water below. In the short summer the mountains around the town are said to have the most beautiful meadows and fields of anywhere else. Because of the growing size of the town, some of the houses are built on the flattest shoreline of the lake, the western shore.

Singbrog: The closest village to Snø, Singbrog is a strong ally of the other northern town despite the tendency for their leaders to dislike each other. It has been built similarly to Mäntypa in the way that many of the villagers live in caves, but Singbrog sits at the peak of a mountain covered in constant snow. This cold town is the highest place in the land where people actually live. While the town often yields skilled blacksmiths of different style from Isolerad, it is also the producer of the Nordic Warriors more commonly known as Vikings. Young men from all five of the Northern towns train at Singbrog to become fierce mountain knights. Though the Capital generally doesn't allow for cities or towns to create their own armies, these small bands of warriors that call themselves the Vikings have gone without general notice from the Capital City.

Northern Mountain Range: A range of mountains that is the northern border to the country. A smaller branch of foothills runs along the eastern coast, and touches with the northern border of Mysticum Silva. These mountains are home of the coldest weather in the land.


End file.
